To inspire us, music works. To connect us, music works. For our city, for everyone, music works.
Music Works is Opera North’s £18 million campaign to enable a significant capital redevelopment project during 2019–2020. The Company’s transformed buildings will be a welcoming home for everyone; a place for artists to make thrilling music; developing talent and inspiring audiences; and will cement Opera North as a creative powerhouse in the heart of Leeds.
Opera North’s estate on Harrison Street, between New Briggate and Vicar Lane, will be transformed to create an outstanding artistic centre for the Company’s creative work.
A Music Rehearsal Studio will be built on top of the existing opera rehearsal studios providing a state-of-the-art, dedicated home for the Orchestra and Chorus of Opera North.
We will build three new music practice rooms, and refurbish our Costume Workshop with specialist facilities.
We will double the number of performances in the Howard Assembly Room, and give the venue a dedicated public entrance, with a beautiful glass atrium, direct stairs and lift access and improved front of house facilities.
We will bring more of the best global musicians and artists to Leeds each year, creating a diverse calendar of jazz, world music, folk, classical concerts, children’s opera, talks, film and installations.
The Howard Assembly Room will close in March 2019 while redevelopment work takes place; and will reopen in 2020.
We will create a specially designed Education Studio, to house our award-winning education work in Leeds.
For the first time, youth ensembles, early years and family groups, schools’ workshops, and singing groups for adults will have a permanent base within Opera North, as the ground floor of our main building will be transformed into a series of interlinking teaching rooms and studio spaces.
This new Studio will be a centre of excellence and a home at the heart of the Company, where audiences of all ages and backgrounds can learn about and participate in making music.
We will create a new restaurant and bar alongside a refurbished Box Office.
Our building will be open to everyone from morning until late at night for coffee, lunch, dinner and drinks: a welcoming place for meeting, socialising and relaxing that will provide a greatly enhanced experience for audiences.
We will make significant improvements to the Grade II listed frontage of the building. This regeneration of a historic building on New Briggate will help improve an important part of Leeds city centre, including the approach to Leeds Grand Theatre and the wider civic space.
We will invest in state-of-the-art and environmentally sustainable facilities to house our staff of over 250 people and more than 370 visiting artists who work with Opera North each year.
We will support artistic exploration and excellence, and invest in digital infrastructure and capacity, making a valuable contribution to the cultural and civic fabric of Leeds and beyond. Our new restaurant and public spaces will enable us to deliver a first-class customer experience and diversify our business model, building financial resilience for the future.
The Music Works campaign aims to raise £18 million, to both realise the project cost of £15 million and raise a new fund of £3 million to help us fill the spaces with music and activity for audiences of all ages. We hope to commence work on site in early 2019 with the project due for completion in Spring 2020.
We have already raised 70% of our target, but there is more to do. To take the Company into this new era, we now need the generous support and commitment of individuals, charitable trusts and the business community to help make these plans a reality.
Contact us
To discuss how you can support Music Works in more detail, please contact Lizzie Watson, Capital Campaign Co-ordinator:
Email: lizzie.watson@operanorth.co.uk
Phone: +44 (0)113 223 3502
