Switch ON: Live from Leeds

Opera North celebrates a return to live performance with the launch of our brand-new Switch ON season in a special concert streamed live from Leeds Town Hall.

Hosted by BBC Radio 3’s Suzy Klein, the concert will reveal our ambitious new programme of upcoming events and innovative digital projects through a series of live musical performances and interviews with our cast and creative teams.

The programme ranges from the heartrending Mimì and Marcello duet from Act III of Puccini’s La bohème, to an extract from Jasdeep Singh Degun‘s concerto for sitar and orchestra, Arya. Members of the Orchestra of Opera North return to Leeds Town Hall to accompany, and to perform the second movement of Dvořák’s String Quintet No. 2. Soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn will lead our Chorus in the Easter Hymn from Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana to bring the evening to a close.

Watch it live on YouTube at 7pm on Wednesday 30 September, or on demand any time after the event.

When
Live from 7pm on Wednesday 30 September

Where
Watch live on YouTube or on OperaVision, or on demand any time after the event

Running Time
Approximately 1 hour

Join in on social media with #SwitchONLive

Presented by Suzy Klein

‘Happy We’
from Acis and Galatea by George Frideric Handel

Interview
Richard Mantle, General Director, Opera North

Song of our Heartland (extract)
Music by Will Todd
Produced by Opera North in partnership with Northern Heartlands

‘O wär’ ich schon mit dir vereint’
from Fidelio by Ludwig van Beethoven

Connecting Voices: Orpheus in the Record Shop (rehearsal extract)
Written by Testament, Directed by Aletta Collins
Co-produced by Opera North and Leeds Playhouse

Connecting Voices: La voix humaine (rehearsal extract)
by Francis Poulenc, Directed by Sameena Hussain
Co-produced by Opera North and Leeds Playhouse

Interview
Jasdeep Singh Degun

Arya: Concerto for Sitar and Orchestra (extract)
Written and arranged for string quintet by Jasdeep Singh Degun

‘O buon Marcello, aiuto!’
from La bohème by Giacomo Puccini

Interview
John Savournin

Whistle Stop Opera: Hansel and Gretel (extract)
Adapted from the opera by Engelbert Humperdinck
Written, directed and narrated by John Savournin

‘Der Neugierige’
from Die schöne Müllerin by Franz Schubert

Scherzo and trio
from String Quintet No. 2 by Antonín Dvořák
Opera North String Quintet

Easter Hymn (Regina Coeli)
from Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni