About Opera North

Our purpose

Creating extraordinary experiences every day, using music and opera to entertain, engage, challenge and inspire.

Our aims:

Extraordinary experiences

We will define what it means to be an opera company for the 21st century. Continually innovating across artforms, we will embrace the diversity of skills and artforms inherent in opera, to make bold and ambitious new work, shared in new ways.  Opera is a radical, all-encompassing artform, and we will keep that sense of energy and experimentation at the heart of our work as we explore different avenues in theatre, music, education and beyond.

For everyone

We create work for everyone and will champion diversity in artists, repertoire and audiences. Opera’s power is built on the diversity of the artforms it combines.  We will challenge ourselves to ensure the artists and staff we train and work with, repertoire we commission and programme, and audiences or communities we engage are increasingly diverse.

Connect with communities

We work in communities with whom we make a deep, relevant and valuable connection. We are a company of the North with the scale, artistic resource and reputation to redefine our region economically, culturally and socially.  Across all our activity, from main stage to education, we will make tangible, real connections with individuals, community groups, schools and businesses.

Make an impact

We will advocate for the value of culture. We believe culture enriches society and empowers people of all backgrounds and ages. We have a significant contribution to make and will collaborate with our peers to demonstrate the impact and value of opera and the creative industries.

Shape the future

We must secure the future. We are on a journey of significant change, on which we will reinvigorate the impact and perception of opera’s relevance and variety, reaching new audiences in new ways and making a positive societal impact across our region and beyond.  We will reach more young people, fostering a diverse base of future audiences, singers and musicians.  To ensure financial security, we will become more entrepreneurial in seeking out earned income and public, corporate or philanthropic support.  We will evolve our business in response to a changing world, ensuring we have the resource and capacity to meet our ambitions.