MIDLAND OPERA HAS A VITAL ROLE TO PLAY (Richard Bratby, Birmingham Post)
Midland Opera's NORMA October 2017
"Inside The Old Rep Theatre there was warmth and magic as the bars of the overture faded and the curtain rose on a brand new production of Bellini’s Bel-Canto masterpiece ‘Norma’, performed by Midland Opera"
"This was a very special night at the theatre."
Once again Sarah Helsby Hughes delivered in style. Her skilfully crafted production captivated audiences and proved fulfilling for the company. We are so fortunate in benefitting from Sarah's leadership and that of our Musical Director James Longstaffe.
Members of the company worked hard to build the set and produce costumes and were thrilled to see the opera come to life with the magnificent and moving singing and acting of our soloists, including Sarah herself, wonderful in the title role. Please see a review
here for a flavour of the show.
Soloists
Sarah Helsby Hughes as Norma
Sarah's career has taken her all over the world, including performances in Europe, the USA and Japan. She has appeared for various opera companies, including Mid-Wales Opera, Carl Rosa Opera, Opera North, Lyric Opera Dublin, D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, Opera Ireland, Pavilion Opera, City of Birmingham Touring Opera, New Devon Opera, The International Gilbert and Sullivan Company, and Focus Opera.
She regularly appears as a soprano soloist for Music Festivals at Sea on board P&O cruise ships, and for Theatrical Adventures River Cruises. Since 2011 she has been the Artistic Director of Heritage Opera, responsible for producing, translating, and directing most of the company's output. Find out more HERE.
Katherine Cooper as Adalgisa
Since making her opera debut in 2004 as Mrs Grose in The Turn of the Screw, she has established a reputation for 'compelling theatricality' (Opera Magazine) and a 'rich, plummy, distinguished mezzo’ (Opera Britannia), with credits including the title-roles in Rossini’s La cenerentola & L’Italiana in Algeri and Gluck’s Orfeo as well as Sesto (Giulio Cesare), Dejanira, Dorabella, Donna Elvira, Cherubino, Mercédès, Flosshilde (Das Rheingold), Miss Jessel and Nancy (Albert Herring). She specialises in bel canto and baroque repertoire and sang in the modern-day premieres of Hasse’s Il Siroe and Artaserse and Vinci’s Il Medo with Ensemble Serse. Plans for 2017/18 include Rachel in the world premiere of Marco Galvani's new chamber-opera Autopilot Saves Model S, Third Wood-Sprite in Rusalka and The Angel in Elgar's Dream of Gerontius. Find out more HERE.
Richard James Belshaw as Pollione
After brief period of work Richard decided to follow his first passion and pursue a career as an Opera singer, attending the Royal Northern College of Music between 2006-10. Recent roles include; Carlo VII (Giovanna D'arco) for Hashtag Opera Co, Tamino (cover) & first armed man (Die Zauberflöte) for Young Opera Venture, Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermore) Opera Seria, Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) and The Duke of Mantua (Rigoletto) for Heritage Opera, Alfredo (La Traviata), Riccardo (Un Ballo in Maschera) and Nemorino (L'elisir d'amore ) for Preston Opera as well as covering Rodolfo (La Bohème) and Don José (Carmen) for Heritage Opera. Richard has also been a member of the Opera Holland Park Chorus for the last three seasons and appeared at the Iford festival with Opera Della Luna for the first time last summer. Find out more HERE.
Tim Bagley as Oroveso
Tim is a recent graduate of RNCM and made his proms debut this year as Second Prisoner in Fidelio with the BBC Philharmonic under conductor Juanjo Menja.
Miriam Ridgway as Clotilde
Midland Opera chorus member Miriam is one of our star Sopranos. She was a member of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain for five years, and returned recently for a BBC Proms performance. She has performed at Birmingham Symphony Hall, the Royal Albert Hall, the National Cathedral in Washington and Singapore's Victoria Hall.
Robert Edwards as Flavio
Robert is a member of Midland Opera Tenor section who has brought his talent to the fore in our previous productions including Peppo in our 2016 production of I Pagliacci. He has also sung Parpignol in La Boheme and Caspar in Amahl and the Night Visitors. Robert is studying with Keel Watson.
Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci
Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci were performed from October 26th to 29th at The Old Rep, Birmingham to enthusiastic Audiences..
“Very enjoyable. I seem to enjoy Midland Opera more each time” Mrs Teresa Gordon, Birmingham
“We really enjoyed the operas last night and thought there were some wonderful voices on show” Mrs P Partington, Stourbridge
“Lovely voices.” “The two young ballet dancers were lovely to see.” Mrs Walkely, Tipton
And here’s what the Birmingham Post had to say about our Cav and Pag
“TALENT AND ENERGY”,
“TWO HIGHLY CAPABLE CASTS - WELL MATCHED TO THEIR ROLES”,
“MOST COMPELLING SINGING”,
“IT IS NO MEAN FEAT TO GET AN AMATEUR CHORUS TO ENTER INTO CHARACTER THIS VIVIDLY”,
“DIRECTOR SARAH HELSBY-HUGHES FILLING THE STAGE WITH A COLOURFUL, SKILFULLY MARSHALLED PARADE”,
“THE CHORAL SINGING WENT UP A NOTCH OR TWO IN I PAGLIACCI".
Read the whole of Richard Bratby’s review in the Birmingham Post here
THANK YOU
To the Principals -
Midland Opera would like to say a huge thank you to all the principals who joined us for this production.
What an array of talent! All were well reviewed and received most enthusiastically by our audiences and loved by the members of the chorus. We make particular mention of the stunning performances given by the three sopranos, all hit by a throat virus during the performance run, and by Catherine Cooper’s fantastic vocal coverage of the role of Lola on the first night. Find out more about them here.
To the Dancers -
Darcy and Joshua, you gave our show an added dimension with your fabulous dancing. Audiences loved you. Thank you and WELL DONE! Darcey Wortley and Joshua Broadbent are both just 17, and currently studying dance at Birmingham Ormiston Academy.
To our Orchestra -
Your secure and sensitive playing inspires the confidence to give of our best. Thank you.
To our Audience -
Thank you for supporting us by buying your ticket and by the warmth of your applause. We always do our best to give you something special and we hope we achieved this with this year’s production. Keep an eye out for our next venture. Why not introduce the Midland Opera Experience to a friend?
Six good things about our Cav and Pag last October...
1. SARAH HELSBY HUGHES’ PRODUCTION – IMAGINATIVE AND DYNAMIC AS EVER
Sarah’s setting of both stories over a couple of days in Little Italy , New York, highlights the age old themes of love, betrayal and revenge that run through these ever popular operas.
This is the seventh wonderful production multi talented and hugely experienced Sarah has directed for us…..and what a fabulous voice she has as she takes on the role of Santuzza.
On Stage at The Old Rep, Station St. Birmingham B5 4DY, from Wednesday 26th to Saturday 29th October 2016. Tickets £15/£7.50 Students (Students £5 on Wednesday)
2. A FANTASTIC LINE UP OF PRINCIPALS
*Including International prize winner Michael Lam*
Come and hear them! Experience and professionalism, or a future big name? They are all fabulous. Don’t miss the opportunity to hear these wonderful singers. Find out more about them here.
3. BEAUTFUL SET DESIGN
Midland Opera’s productions are always a feast for the eyes, thanks to talented design and our devoted and hard working team of set builders
4. GREAT MUSIC
Mascagni and Leoncavallo have given us some of the most popular opera music and under the baton of our expert conductor James Longstaffe, the Midland opera chorus and our excellent orchestra will present it at its best.
5. A NEW VENUE
The Old Rep has a place in many hearts and we look forward to bringing Opera to this refurbished landmark Birmingham theatre.
6. REAL VALUE FOR MONEY
We strive to reach a near professional standard in bringing you enthusiastically reviewed Grand Opera at an affordable price.
OPERA CELEBRATION CONCERTS 2017
MIDLAND OPERA gave a lively series of three Spring Concerts. This year we celebrated with plenty of gusto as we presented some of the most popular choruses from your favourite operas.
Including :-
The BRINDISI from VERDI’S LA TRAVIATA
The WALTZ SCENE from TCHAIKOVSKY’S EUGENE ONEGIN
The CORONATION SCENE from MUSSORSKY’S BORIS GODUNOV
We changed the mood with the haunting CHORUS OF SCOTTISH REFUGEES from VERDI’S MACBETH
Our soloists prepared some great songs and both the men and the ladies of the chorus sang their own special numbers.
The concerts were held at:-
Saturday March 25th Erdington Six Ways Baptist Church
Saturday April 1st St. Michael’s Church Boldmere
Saturday April 22nd St Stephen’s Church Selly Park
Midland Opera’s production of Puccini’s La Boheme at Tudor Grange Academy on December 12th was a great success.
Comments from the audience included “A nurse told me she and her partner were both crying at the death scene - actually lots of people were, the acting was as powerful as the singing.”
It was a huge feat for Tudor Grange’s young students, only aged between 11 and 13, to sing in Italian in such a major opera.
As we have come to expect, we were also able to enjoy truly accomplished soloists who were fantastic actors as well as superb singers and we thank them for making it so memorable.
CHORUS and PRODUCTION TEAM
If you are interested in joining us for future productions in any capacity, come along and meet us as we rehearse!
EMAIL to join us and see more information on our Sing with Us! page.
WE'VE MOVED!
Thanks to the marvellous Centric organisation, Midland Opera now have a new Headquarters, with plenty of space for all of our endeavours. Rehearsals take place each Thursday 7:30 for 8pm-10pm, at Unit 5, The Square, Broad Street Birmingham.
The attached map PDF shows the exact building, and there is a small amount of parking.
 unit5, The Square, Broad Street
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"THE MAGIC FLUTE" by Mozart
Tuesday 1st to Saturday 5th JULY 2014
At The Crescent Theatre, Sheepcote St. Birmingham
Colourful, characterful and whimsical, Midland Opera's 'The Magic Flute' sizzled with vocal fireworks including the 'Queen of the Night' aria. Whilst dream-filled musical storylines inspired the imagination and left you wanting more.
Into a world of mystery and magic stumbled Tamino, a young man seeking the meaning of life, the universe and everything.
On his travels he picked up a strange bird-like companion and met a heartbroken queen, longing for the return of her kidnapped daughter. During a quest to rescue the princess, Tamino began to mature and discoved that – in a man’s world – it can be hard to know who’s fooling who.
CAST LIST
TAMINO – Mitesh Khatri
PAMINA – Lorraine Payne
PAPAGENO – Themba Mvula & Samuel Lom
SARASTRO – Clive Thursfield
THE QUEEN OF THE NIGHT – Sara Whichelow
1ST LADY – Eleanor Hodkinson
2ND LADY – Alison Nicholls
3RD LADY – Katherine Cooper
1ST SPIRIT – Antonia Gentile
2ND SPIRIT – Claire Hollocks
3RD SPIRIT – Judith LeBreuilly
PAPAGENA – Fran Handley
SPEAKER – Ian McFarlane
MONOSTATOS / 1ST ARMED MAN – Roger Hanke
2ND ARMED MAN – David Mellor
1ST PRIEST – Ryan Shore
2ND PRIEST – Andrew Cooley
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