The Firework-Maker's Daughter

An explosive musical adventure

Based on the story by Philip Pullman

Lila desperately wants to be a firework-maker like her father. But when he refuses to teach her, Lila runs away from home to discover the three gifts of firework-making for herself. With the help of her friends, Chulak and Hamlet, the love-sick elephant, Lila faces pirates, tigers and the terrifying Fire-Fiend on her perilous quest to find out what the three gifts really mean.

This new opera is a vivid re-telling of the award-winning children’s novel by author Philip Pullman, with a libretto by Glyn Maxwell.  David Bruce’s music, bursting with colour and energy, sparkles with humour and musical fireworks of its own and is brought to life by magical puppetry.

Discover this gripping tale of friendship, determination and adventure that will be an explosive theatrical experience for all the family. 

Co-produced by The Opera Group and Opera North in association with ROH2 and Watford Palace Theatre.

Co-commissioned by The Opera Group and ROH2.

Orchestral partner: CHROMA

Words: Zygmunt Bauman

Martyr to Hero to Celebrity

‘magnificently untweetable’ The Guardian on 44 Letters from the Liquid Modern World (2011)

Why have we changed our idols in the (thus far vain) search for a reliable and trustworthy authority?  One of Europe’s most prominent academics, Zygmunt Bauman, brings his huge intellectual appetite and searing analysis of the status quo to bear on the question: what makes a hero?

Professor Bauman is one of the most eminent scholars of modernity. He is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Leeds, and his most recent publications are This is Not a Diary (2012) and Does the Richness of the Few Benefit Us All (2013).

Part of Liberty Lectures 2013, in association with Dare.

Save 20% at the Howard Assembly Room: Buy tickets for two or more shows displaying the 'Save' symbol (only available when you book in person or by phone, not available on-line).

Film: The Battle of Algiers

Introduced by Dr Radia Kesseiri (University of Leeds)

Dir. Gillo Pontecorvo, Italy 1966, 123 mins. Cert 18. French and Arabic with subtitles.

‘its anatomy of terror remains unsurpassed—and, woefully, ever fresh’ New York Magazine

Filmed in gritty black and white, The Battle of Algiers traces the Algerian struggle for independence between 1954 - 1957. Based on real events, the film examines the increasingly extreme measures taken by the French military to suppress the liberation movement and the atrocities committed on both sides. The ominous familiarity of the story makes it essential viewing.

Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack is one of his finest, with two thousand Algerian extras creating the effect of the ‘Casbah-as-chorus’.

This screening will be introduced by Dr Radia Kesseiri, an expert on Algeria's history, culture and politics, and lecturer in Arabic at the University of Leeds.

Part of Liberty Lectures 2013, in association with DARE.

Save 20% at the Howard Assembly Room: Buy tickets for two or more shows displaying the 'Save' symbol (only available when you book in person or by phone, not available on-line).

Siegfried

Richard Wagner (1876)

Of all the operas in Wagner’s monumental music drama ‘Der Ring des Nibelungen’, the third, Siegfried, tells a story that most resembles a fairy tale. Bold and fearless, the young hero Siegfried seeks ever increasing challenges and adventures. Forging an unbreakable sword from the shards of the weapon that belonged to his father, he slays the dragon Fafner and seizes from the dragon’s hoard the ring that gives its bearer power over the world. But when he awakens the sleeping Brünnhilde after penetrating the magic fire surrounding her, he encounters his greatest challenge – to win over her love.

Wagner’s unparalleled orchestral scene-painting reaches new heights in this work, and the closing love duet for Siegfried and Brünnhilde, completed after Wagner had composed Tristan und Isolde, has a blazing erotic intensity in common with that work.

Siegfried is conducted by Richard Farnes, who, following the first two instalments of Opera North’s Ring, has been praised as the country’s eminent Wagnerian. The unrivalled power and vividness of Wagner’s music will again be translated into evocative and atmospheric lighting and film projections by Peter Mumford.

An international cast is headed by the Estonian tenor Mati Turi and the Swedish soprano Annalena Persson; and Michael Druiett returns to sing the role of The Wanderer following his acclaimed performances of Wotan in Das Rheingold in 2011. 

Bringing alive the full scale and splendour of Wagner’s magnificent conception, this is the perfect occasion to celebrate Wagner’s bicentenary. 

The performance will finish at approximately 10.20pm
Please note: performance time includes two intervals, one of 30 minutes, and one of 1 hour 15 minutes.

Approximate timings:

Act 1: 16.30 - 17.50
interval: 17.50 - 18.20
Act 2: 18.20 - 19.40
interval: 19.40 - 20.55
Act 3: 20.55 - 22.20

Sung in German with English titles.

A collaboration with The Sage Gateshead and Symphony Hall, Birmingham.

Financially supported by the Opera North Future Fund and The Ring Fellowship.

Pre-show talk: Siegfried

Opera North's Editor, Stuart Leeks explores the third part of Wagner's epic Ring cycle.

Inside Opera special: Siegfried

Matthew d'Ancona, Martin Pickard and Michael Tanner explore Siegfried and the idea of 'a hero'.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Benjamin Britten

Revival of 2008 production

‘Britten’s opera sounds as good as it looks’ The Independent

Oberon, the fairy king and Tytania, his queen are locked in a conflict which spills over into the human world. Shakespeare’s witty words and the composer’s mesmerising music come together in this colourful and vibrant production where costumes and music are equally sparkling.

4 stars: The Independent / The Times

General on sale dates:

• The Lowry, Salford Quays: 7 March
• Theatre Royal, Nottingham: 18 March
• Theatre Royal, Newcastle: 22 March
• Leeds Grand Theatre: 17 July

Music: Tamikrest

'Tinariwen's angry little brothers are on the rise' Mojo on Tamikrest

Far from being your average band, Tamikrest are a collective of Tuareg musicians from Mali who started playing together in 2006. Inspired by Tinariwen and a new wave of violent civil unrest, their music is blazing the way for the second generation of African blues bands. 

Their songs combine a sense of ancient rhythm with qualities of hypnotic dub, psychedelic funk and an almost supernatural kind of desert garage. They sing in Tamashek and as each song unfolds, the groove deepens and Tamaschek chants merge with seemingly effortless but increasingly intense guitar riffs.  This tour marks the release of their third album Chatma in September 2013.

Tamikrest play at the Howard Assembly Room as part of a focus on West African music and politics in 2013. Other events include Etran Finatawa and a talk by ex-Tinariwen manager and Guardian journalist Andy Morgan.

Save 20% at the Howard Assembly Room: Buy tickets for two or more shows displaying the 'Save' symbol (only available when you book in person or by phone, not available on-line).

The Girl of the Golden West (La fanciulla del West)

New production

Puccini’s opera of the American West, set during the California Gold Rush, was a great success at its premiere at the New York Met in December 1910, starring Caruso and Emmy Destinn, and conducted by Toscanini. Puccini’s peerless melodic gift and capacity for creating local colour was well-suited to this tale of a love triangle involving Dick Johnson, aka the bandit Ramerrez, Sheriff Jack Rance and Minnie, the Girl of the Golden West who runs the Polka saloon.

Based, like its predecessor Madama Butterfly, on a play by David Belasco, The Girl of the Golden West is a story of true love and second chances, set against the backdrop of the tough life of a gold-mining community on the American frontier. The opera boasts perhaps Puccini’s most innovative score, and surely his richest orchestrally.

In Opera North’s first production of the work in three decades, Alwyn Mellor returns to the Company as Minnie, one of Puccini’s most demanding soprano roles. Music Director Richard Farnes conducts, and Aletta Collins, whose productions of La voix humaine and Dido and Aeneas were among last season’s highlights, directs.

Lasts approximately 2 hours 30 mins
Sung in Italian with English titles

This production is supported by the Friends of Opera North

From Paris with Love

From Paris with Love explores the music that helped create the iconic image of Paris as the City of Romance and the heart of all things bohemian.

In a theatrical evening, leading soloists together with the Orchestra of Opera North explore familiar favourites and neglected gems of the operatic repertoire by composers including Puccini, Leoncavallo and Charpentier. But that is only part of the story, for we also visit the more intimate cabarets of the Latin Quarter, infused with cigarette smoke and with the songs of love and heartbreak popularised by Edith Piaf and Jacques Brel.

Devised by David Parry and Annabel Arden; David Parry is well known for his reappraisal and championing of important neglected music as well as for his consistently fresh approach to established repertoire, in the opera house, on the concert platform, and through his numerous recordings for the Opera Rara and Chandos labels. Annabel Arden’s distinguished career encompasses opera, theatre and broadcasting as well as acting and devising new work. Her  productions for Opera North include La traviata and The Cunning Little Vixen.

Lasts approximately 2 hours 30 mins

Götterdämmerung

Twilight of the Gods

Opera North’s four-year traversal of Der Ring des Nibelungen reaches the cycle’s overwhelming conclusion. The all-consuming love of Siegfried and Brünnhilde is broken in bitter betrayal; the machinations of Hagen, son of Alberich, seal Siegfried’s doom; and Brünnhilde’s self-immolation precipitates the end of the old world order and the beginning of a new era.

The musical and dramatic power of Götterdämmerung is awe-inspiring – from Siegfried’s Rhine Journey, to the mighty chorus of the Gibichung vassals, in which the Chorus of Opera North is joined by the internationally renowned Huddersfield Choral Society, to Siegfried’s Funeral March, and – above all – to Brünnhilde’s immolation and the work’s titanic orchestral climax.

Alwyn Mellor, widely praised for her radiant portrayal of Sieglinde in Opera North’s Die Walküre in 2012, sings the role of Brünnhilde in these performances. She is joined by a cast that also includes the American tenor Daniel Brenna as Siegfried and Susan Bickley as Waltraute. All are under the guidance of Opera North’s Music Director Richard Farnes, whose conducting of the previous instalments of this cycle has been universally acclaimed.

Lasts approximately 6 hours 15 mins

Please note: performance time includes two intervals, one of 30 mins, and one of 1 hour 15 mins.

Sung in German with English titles

A collaboration with The Sage Gateshead and Symphony Hall, Birmingham.

Financially supported by the Opera North Future Fund and The Ring Fellowship.