What Twitter's REALLY for
It is the year 2014, and opera companies still don't get Twitter.
Welsh National Opera attempted to tweet their new season this morning. But you can't dice a season into 140-character chunks. And what WNO have on offer next year needs a bit of context to sell it even to regular operagoers, let alone the general public. Their website is (at the time of writing) not much more helpful, but at least you can find a list of operas.
Intermezzo to the rescue - if you want the full details, including casts and dates, read below.
As you will see, there are five new productions. Four are directed by WNO's own David Pountney - presumably a cost-saving measure rather than a bout of late-career megalomania. The one that isn't is the British premiere of Richard Ayres' Peter Pan, which debuted last year in Stuttgart. This also makes its way to the ROH next summer for a couple of dates.
Barry Banks heads the excellent casts assembled for the mini Rossini-fest of Guillaume Tell and Mosè in Egitto. Please don't ask me what Chorus! starring Lesley Garrett might be - I fear to think. Pelléas et Mélisande (with Jacques Imbrailo and Jurgita Adomonyte) is the final new production.
Dominic Cooke's family-friendly The Magic Flute makes multiple appearances, and there's a return for Richard Jones's Hansel and Gretel. Both are sung in English, which should aid their appeal to newcomers.
Productions
William Tell | Rossini - New Production. (c. Carlo Rizzi, d.David Pountney). William Tell - David Kempster, Arnold - Barry Banks, Mathilde - Gisela Stille, Gesler - Clive Bayley, Jemmy - Fflur Wyn, Hedwige - Leah-Marian Jones, Melchthal/Walter - Richard Wiegold, Rodolphe - Nicky Spence
Moses in Egypt | Rossini - New Production. (c.Carlo Rizzi/Simon Phillippo, d.David Pountney). Mosè - Miklós Sebestyén, Osiride - David Alegret, Amaltea - Christine Rice, Aronne - Barry Banks, Faraone - Andrew Foster-Williams, Amenofi - Leah-Marian Jones, Elcia - Claire Booth, Mambre - Nicky Spence
Carmen | Bizet. (c.Erik Nielsen/James Southall, d.Patrice Caurier & Moshe Leiser). Carmen - Alessandra Volpe/ TBA, Don Jose - Peter Wedd/Gwyn Hughes Jones, Escamillo - Kostas Smoriginas/TBA, Micaela - Jessica Muirhead
Chorus! | New Production. Starring Lesley Garrett and WNO Chorus, directed by David Pountney
The Magic Flute | Mozart. Sung in English. (c.Lothar Koenigs, d.Dominic Cooke). Tamino - Allan Clayton/Benjamin Hulett, Pamina - Sophie Bevan/Anita Watson, Papageno - Jacques Imbrailo/Daniel Grice, Sarastro - Scott Wilde, Speaker - Ashley Holland, Queen of the Night - Samantha Hay
Hansel and Gretel | Humperdinck. Sung in English. (c.Lothar Koenigs, d.Richard Jones). Gretel - Ailish Tynan, Hansel - Anna Grevelius, The Witch - Adrian Thompson, Peter - Ashley Holland, The Mother - Miriam Murphy
Pelléas et Mélisande | Debussy. New Production. (c.Lothar Koenigs, d.David Pountney). Pelleas - Jacques Imbrailo, Melisande - Jurgita Adomonyte, Golaud - Christopher Purves, Genevieve - Leah-Marian Jones
The Magic Flute | Mozart. Sung in English. Tamino - Benjamin Hulett, Pamina - Elizabeth Watts, Papageno - Daniel Grice, Sarastro - Scott Wilde, Speaker - Ashley Holland, Queen of the Night - Kathryn Lewek
Peter Pan | Richard Ayres/Lavinia Greenlaw. New Production, British Première. (c.Erik Nielsen, d.Keith Warner) Peter Pan - Iestyn Morris, Wendy - Marie Arnet, Mr Darling / Captain Hook - Ashley Holland, Mrs Darling / Tiger Lilly - TBA, John - Nicholas Sharratt, Michael - Rebecca Bottone, Nana - Aidan Smith
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
Thanks for this helpful summary, exactly what I want to know. Why can't the opera houses just provide this sort of information?
Posted by: Miriam | 25 March 2014 at 01:54 AM
The info was in fact provided by WNO, so I don't know why it's not on their website yet. Perhaps because there are still a few TBAs.
Posted by: inter mezzo | 25 March 2014 at 07:35 AM
Brilliant. Thanks so much for providing a service the site themselves can't manage.
Hoping you do the same if ROH can't give us a clear listing. Still on for Monday 31st?
Posted by: Roy | 25 March 2014 at 07:52 AM
You wait so long for Guillaume Tell and then 2 come along at once!
Posted by: Desdemona | 25 March 2014 at 08:10 AM
They are sprouting all over Europe too - there were three productions last year, Pesaro, Wildbad and Amsterdam, and there's Munich and Torino (the Pesaro staging by Vick but cantato in Italiano) to come and Brussels is doing it in concert next season as well as the WNO and, presumably, the Royal Opera. More evidence that Intendants have few ideas of their own but keep an eye on what their counterparts are doing elsewhere. No complaints about multiple Guts - let's hope most of them are not cut to shreds. I can't see either WNO or the RO doing much of the ballet music, alas.
Posted by: Nikolaus Vogel | 25 March 2014 at 01:06 PM
Yes, the RO's is at the end of 14/15 I think.
Posted by: Desdemona | 25 March 2014 at 02:27 PM
A pretty impressive season from WNO.
I wonder if Scottish Opera's 14-15 season will match the astounding paucity of its 13-14 season? I think they had only 2 large-scale, fully-staged productions and receive more subsidy than WNO.
Alexander Gibson must be whirling in his grave at the terrible decline of Scotland's pre-eminent arts company (as was).
Posted by: Susan Whitman | 25 March 2014 at 07:09 PM