FILMusic: L’Atalante

Film screening plus chansons by Maggi Stratford (vocals) and Christian Vaughn Spruce (accordion and piano)

‘one of cinema's greatest masterpieces.’ Time Out

Dir Jean Vigo, 1934, 89 mins. Cert PG. In French with English subtitles. 

L’Atalante is a barge in which two young newlyweds travel the waterways of France. Juliette loves Jean but soon grows tired of his ship-bound concerns and, longing for the excitement of Paris, is lured ashore. Understatedly poetic, erotically charged and moving, this is perhaps the finest of the four films Vigo made before his early death.

Before the film there will be a short concert of musette and chansons, including La Vie en Rose by  Louis Guglielmi and Edith Piaf, from the world of Juliette and Jean to celebrate the spirit of the film.

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Dido and Aeneas

Henry Purcell (1689)

New production

Aeneas, a Trojan prince who has escaped the devastation of his city at the hands of the Greeks, lands in Carthage where Dido is queen.  She falls deeply in love with him, but evil forces are at work, bent on her destruction.  Aeneas is tricked into abandoning her, and overwhelmed with grief, she dies.

Purcell takes a universal epic and makes of it an intimate human drama, packing a magnificently rich variety of music into the work’s hour-long duration, much of it composed expressly to be danced.  This concise masterpiece stood unchallenged as the finest English opera for more than three centuries and there is still no more powerfully moving expression of noble resignation in the face of death than Dido’s great lament ‘When I am laid in earth’. 

Aletta Collins directs this new production. Pamela Helen Stephen, who sang the title role in Opera North’s recent production of Handel’s Giulio Cesare, heads the cast that also includes Amy Freston, Heather Shipp and Jake Arditti.

Sung in English

Lasts approximately 1 hour 

Dido and Aeneas is presented in a double-bill with La Voix Humaine with a 25 minute interval between the productions.

Music: Tasmin Little and Martin Roscoe

Britten, Elgar and Delius

‘Her sweet songfulness and flawless intonation drew us in. There was real artistry at work here on Delius’ behalf’ The Independent

A programme of all-British chamber music joins Opera North’s year long celebration of the Britten Centenary. The perfect partnership of violinist Tasmin Little and pianist Martin Roscoe, play two of Britten’s most spirited pre-war chamber pieces, the Suite for Violin and Piano and the Holiday Diary for Solo Piano.

They complete the programme with pieces by two other major English composers with whom Tasmin Little has a particular relationship. She has long championed the work of Delius and has made prize winning recordings of both his shimmering Violin Sonata and the evening’s final piece, Elgar’s Violin Sonata.

Tasmin Little has played with many of the world's greatest orchestras in a career that has taken her to every continent of the world. In addition to her regular solo performances, she has played with/directed orchestras such as Royal Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, English Chamber Orchestra, Norwegian Chamber and the European Union Chamber Orchestra.  Recent concerto appearances have been in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, in Australia, New Zealand and Slovenia, as well as her fifteenth BBC Promenade concert in London. 

www.tasminlittle.com

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La clemenza di Tito

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1791)

New production

La clemenza di Tito is a tale of sexual obsession and divided loyalties, set in Ancient Rome. The powerful, alluring Vitellia has designs on the Emperor Tito, and is provoked to fury when he opts to marry someone else. She fans the flames of rebellion, and demands his assassination at the hands of her doting lover Sesto, Tito’s trusted confidant. Torn between loyalty to his friend and emperor and his fascination with the hypnotic Vitellia, Sesto makes a choice that tests Tito’s forgiving nature to breaking point.

Composed for the coronation celebrations of the new Emperor of Bohemia, La clemenza was famously described by Mozart as his ‘true opera’ due to its noble subject and its rich, varied music. Mozart received the commission for Tito when he was already underway with The Magic Flute, and both works’ stirring melodies, colourful ensembles and unforgettable choruses share the directness and simplicity typical of his late style.

John Fulljames, Associate Director of Opera at the Royal Opera House, directs Opera North’s first production of Mozart’s sublime opera seria. Annemarie Kremer, who stunned audiences and critics in her spellbinding performance as Norma last year stars in an outstanding cast including Opera North favourites Paul Nilon, Kathryn Rudge and Fflur Wyn.

Sung in Italian with English titles

Lasts approximately 2 hours 45 minutes

Supported by the Friends of Opera North

A co-production with Opéra national de Lorraine, Nancy

Music: Iestyn Davies and Richard Egarr

‘one of the most glorious counter-tenor voices in the world today.’ The Independent

The award-winning British counter tenor, Iestyn Davies brings together a programme of exquisite music from the Italian Renaissance and Baroque periods. With a growing reputation as the finest counter tenor of his generation, his dazzling voice combines huge power with extraordinary range and sensibility. The chosen repertoire ranges from the rarefied to the rapturous, setting little-known 17th century lullabies and laments alongside the glories of Handel and Vivaldi.

He is joined by Richard Egarr on harpsichord, one of ‘the leading lights in the current period instrument scene’ New York Times.

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FILMusic: Masters of cinema

Tippett Quartet

‘a marvellous young ensemble full of vitality, and with interpretative sensibility and intelligence to match.’ The Telegraph

One of the most famous fruits of the long-term partnership between director Alfred Hitchcock and composer Bernard Herrmann was the score for Psycho. The frenzied sound of screeching violins instantly evokes that bathroom scene and can instill fear into anyone.

Here, the wonderfully intelligent and vital Tippett Quartet presents ‘The Psycho Suite’ arranged for strings, alongside Piazzolla’s Psycho-inspired ‘Four for Tango’. Herrmann’s chamber piece ‘Echoes’ is played with scenes from Hitchcock’s film Vertigo and the programme is completed with pieces by Korngold, Barber and Rota.

Find out more about The Tippett Quartet here.

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