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Opera North
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==Characteristics of the company== ===Repertory=== As well as presenting the bread-and-butter operas of the standard repertory, the company has performed a number of operas that are rarely seen in Britain. Examples include: {{col-begin}} {{col-2}} * ''[[Les mamelles de Tirésias]]'' ([[Francis Poulenc|Poulenc]]) (1978) * ''[[The Mines of Sulphur]]'' ([[Richard Rodney Bennett]]) (1980) * ''[[A Village Romeo and Juliet]]'' ([[Frederick Delius|Delius]]) (1980) * ''[[Prince Igor]]'' ([[Alexander Borodin]]) (1982) * ''[[Béatrice et Bénédict|Beatrice and Benedict]]'' ([[Berlioz]]) (1983) * ''[[Jonny spielt auf|Johnny Strikes Up]]'' ([[Ernst Krenek|Krenek]]) (1984, British première) * ''[[Intermezzo (opera)|Intermezzo]]'' ([[Richard Strauss]]) (1986) * ''[[Daphne (opera)|Daphne]]'' (Strauss) (1987, British première) * ''[[La finta giardiniera]]'' ([[Mozart]]) (1989) * ''[[Jérusalem]]'' ([[Verdi]]) (1990, British première) * ''[[Ariane et Barbe-bleue|Ariane and Bluebeard]]'' ([[Paul Dukas|Dukas]]) (1990) * ''[[Masquerade (Nielsen)|Masquerade]]'' ([[Carl Nielsen]]) (1990, British professional première) * ''[[King Priam]]'' ([[Michael Tippett]]) (1991) * ''[[L'étoile (opera)|L'étoile]]'' ([[Chabrier]]) (1991) * ''[[The Jewel Box]]'' (Mozart, arranged by [[Paul Griffiths (writer)|Paul Griffiths]]) (1991) * ''[[La gazza ladra|The Thieving Magpie]]'' ([[Rossini]]) (1992) * ''[[Iolanta]]'' ([[Tchaikovsky]]) (1992) * ''The Duenna'' ([[Roberto Gerhard]]) (1992, British première) * ''[[Der ferne Klang]]'' ([[Schreker]]) (1992, British première) * ''[[La Gioconda (opera)|La Gioconda]]'' ([[Ponchielli]]) (1993) * ''[[Gloriana]]'' ([[Britten]]) (1993) {{col-break}} * ''[[Il re pastore]]'' (Mozart) (1993) * ''[[Il matrimonio segreto|The Secret Marriage]]'' ([[Domenico Cimarosa|Cimarosa]]) (1993) * ''[[Oberto (opera)|Oberto]]'' (Verdi) (1994, British stage première) * ''[[Le roi malgré lui|The Reluctant King]]'' (Chabrier) (1994, British stage première) * ''[[Troilus and Cressida (opera)|Troilus and Cressida]]'' ([[William Walton]]) (1995) * ''[[Hamlet (opera)|Hamlet]]'' ([[Ambroise Thomas]]) (1995) * ''[[Médée (Cherubini)|Medea]]'' ([[Luigi Cherubini|Cherubini]]) (1996) * ''[[Julietta]]'' ([[Martinů]]) (1997) * ''[[Giovanna d'Arco|Joan of Arc]]'' (Verdi) (1998) * ''[[Radamisto (Handel)|Radamisto]]'' ([[Handel]]) (2000) * ''[[Genoveva]]'' ([[Robert Schumann|Schumann]]) (2000) * ''[[Moscow, Cheryomushki|Paradise Moscow]]'' ([[Shostakovich]]) (2001) * ''[[Francesca da Rimini (Rachmaninoff)|Francesca da Rimini]]'' ([[Rachmaninov]]) (2004) * ''[[L'occasione fa il ladro|Love's Luggage Lost]]'' (Rossini) (2004, British stage première) * ''[[Djamileh]]'' ([[Bizet]]) (2004) * ''[[La vida breve (opera)|La vida breve]]'' ([[Manuel de Falla]]) (2004) * ''[[La voix humaine]]'' (Poulenc) (2006) * ''[[The Fortunes of King Croesus]]'' ([[Reinhard Keiser]]) (2007, British première) * ''[[The Excursions of Mr Broucek]]'' ([[Leoš Janáček|Janáček]]) (2009) * ''[[The Snow Maiden]]'' ([[Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov|Rimsky-Korsakov]]) (2017) * ''[[Trouble in Tahiti]]'' ([[Leonard Bernstein]]) (2017) * ''[[The Greek Passion]]'' ([[Martinů]]) (2019) {{col-end}} In 2011, the company performed ''The Portrait'' by [[Mieczysław Weinberg]] and initiated an annual series of semi-staged concert performances of the four operas in [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]]'s ''[[Der Ring des Nibelungen]]'' by performing ''[[Das Rheingold]]'' in [[Leeds Town Hall]]. ''Beached'', a community opera by composer [[Harvey Brough]] with a libretto by [[Lee Hall (playwright)|Lee Hall]] co-commissioned by Opera North and the sea-side resort of [[Bridlington]] premiered on 15 July 2011. At the request of the Bridlington primary school whose 300 children performed in the opera, the company asked for the removal of an explicit reference to a gay character's sexuality from one of the scenes. Hall initially refused, and the opera was withdrawn.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jul/04/opera-beached-pulled-school-protests | title=Opera pulled after school protests over gay character | work=The Guardian | author=Mark Brown | date=3 July 2011 | access-date=27 February 2016}}</ref> However, following negotiations the matter was resolved when the character's contentious line "Of course I'm queer" was changed to "Of course I'm gay".<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-14064060 | title=Homophobia row opera to go ahead |work=BBC News| date=7 July 2011 | access-date=27 February 2016}}</ref> ===World premieres=== Opera North has given world premières of the following operas: ''Rebecca'' by [[Wilfred Josephs]] (1983), ''Caritas'' by [[Robert Saxton]] (1991), ''Baa, Baa, Black Sheep'' by [[Michael Berkeley]] (1993), ''Playing Away'' by [[Benedict Mason]] (1994), ''The Nightingale's to Blame'' by [[Simon Holt]] (1998), [[Jonathan Dove]]'s ''[[The Adventures of Pinocchio]]'' (2007) and ''Swanhunter'' (2009), and ''Skin Deep'' by [[David Sawer]] and [[Armando Iannucci]] (2009). In July 2009, Opera North premièred ''[[Prima Donna (opera)|Prima Donna]]'', a new opera by [[Rufus Wainwright]], at the [[Manchester International Festival]].<ref>{{cite web|access-date=22 February 2009|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/oct/09/rufuswainwright.folk|title=From pop to opera: petrified Rufus Wainwright embraces 'the dark religion'|author=Higgins, Charlotte|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=9 October 2008}}</ref> ===Musical theatre=== Opera North has also given performances of musical theatre works. The first was [[Jerome Kern]]'s ''[[Show Boat]]'' (in collaboration with the [[Royal Shakespeare Company]]) in 1989, and productions of [[Gershwin]]'s ''[[Of Thee I Sing]]'' and [[Stephen Sondheim|Sondheim]]'s ''[[Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street|Sweeney Todd]]'' followed in 1998. A joint production with West Yorkshire Playhouse of Sondheim's ''[[Into the Woods]]'' was staged in Leeds in 2016.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/jun/12/into-the-woods-review-west-yorkshire-playhouse|title = Into the Woods review – Opera North casts spell on Sondheim fairytale|website = [[TheGuardian.com]]|date = 12 June 2016}}</ref> Latterly, the works of [[Kurt Weill]] have become something of a speciality, with productions of ''[[Love Life (musical)|Love Life]]'' (1996), ''[[One Touch of Venus]]'' and ''[[The Seven Deadly Sins (ballet chanté)|The Seven Deadly Sins]]'' in 2004, ''[[Der Kuhhandel|Arms and the Cow]]'' in 2006, and ''[[Street Scene (opera)|Street Scene]]'' in 2020. In 2009, ''[[Let 'Em Eat Cake]]'', the sequel to ''Of Thee I Sing'', was produced, and in 2012 [[Rodgers and Hammerstein]]'s ''[[Carousel (musical)|Carousel]]'' was performed in Leeds, Salford and London. It was revived in 2015, playing in Leeds before touring to Norwich, Edinburgh and Dublin. ===Electronic music=== Opera North has worked extensively with electronic composer [[Mira Calix]], commissioning ''Dead Wedding'' (for the Manchester International Festival 2007) ''Onibus'' (2008) and the installation ''Chorus'' (2009) for the opening of the Howard Assembly Room with visual artist UVA.
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