Opera North – It all starts in Leeds

Opera North’s 2022 Winter Season opens at Leeds Grand Theatre in January with two new shows.

Rigoletto (Verdi) – opens Sat 22 January

Making his opera directing debut is Nigerian-British theatre artist Femi Elufowoju Jr, in a production ‘mapping identity and inequality onto a contemporary canvas’. Eric Greene returns in the title role, and Sir Willard White as Count Monterone, and Roman Arndt, Russian tenor, and American soprano Jasmine Habersham make their Company debuts as the Duke of Mantua and Gilda. Conductor is Garry Walker.


Alcina (Handel) – opens Sat 5 February

This is a first for Opera North, and is directed by Tim Albery, with Laurence Cummings conducting. Máire Flavin takes the role of the enchantress Alcina and Patrick Terry as Ruggiero, the young knight. This is Opera North’s first fully sustainable mainstage opera and will be livestreamed on the OperaVision platform later in February.

Carmen (Bizet) – from Sat 12 February

Guest Conductor Antony Hermus conducts the winter run of Edward Dick’s production which opened in Oct 2021. American mezzo Chrystal E. Williams returns in the title role, joined for this run by Rafael Rojas as Don José, Alison Langer as Micaëla, and Gyula Nagy as Escamillo. 

Parsifal (Wagner) – opens Wed 1 June

Opera North’s acclaimed strand of dramatic concert performances will be directed by PJ Harris and will see the Company’s former Music Director, Richard Farnes, returning to conduct. Brindley Sherratt and Toby Spence will both make their role debuts as Gurnemanz and Parsifal respectively. This was originally postponed owing to pandemic constraints.

January – April 2022
All performances start at 7.00pm

Leeds Grand Theatre
Sat 22 Jan Rigoletto
Sat 29 Jan Rigoletto
Fri 4 Feb Rigoletto
Sat 5 Feb Alcina
Tue 8 Feb Alcina
Fri 11 Feb Rigoletto Audio-described performance
Sat 12 Feb Carmen
Tue 15 Feb Alcina
Wed 16 Feb Carmen Signed performance
Thu 17 Feb Alcina Livestreamed at operavision.eu
Fri 18 Feb Carmen
Sat 19 Feb Rigoletto

The Lowry, Salford Quays
Wed 9 Mar Rigoletto
Thu 10 Mar Carmen Signed performance
Fri 11 Mar Alcina
Sat 12 Mar Rigoletto Audio-described performance

Theatre Royal, Nottingham
Wed 16 Mar Rigoletto
Thu 17 Mar Alcina
Fri 18 Mar Carmen Signed performance
Sat 19 Mar Rigoletto Audio-described performance

Theatre Royal, Newcastle
Wed 23 Mar Rigoletto
Thu 24 Mar Alcina
Fri 25 Mar Carmen
Sat 26 Mar Rigoletto Audio-described performance

Hull New Theatre
Thu 31 Mar Carmen Signed performance
Fri 1 Apr Rigoletto
Sat 2 Apr Carmen

June 2022
All performances start at 4.00pm

Leeds Grand Theatre
Wed 1 Jun Parsifal Audio-described performance
Sat 4 Jun Parsifal Audio-described performance
Tue 7 Jun Parsifal Audio-described performance

Fri 10 Jun Parsifal Audio-described performance

Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
Sun 12 Jun Parsifal Audio-described performance

Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham
Wed 15 Jun Parsifal Audio-described performance

Sage Gateshead
Sat 18 Jun Parsifal Audio-described performance

Southbank Centre, London
Sun 26 Jun Parsifal Audio-described performance

Increasing accessibility underpins all the Company’s upcoming work. Every opera will be surtitled and, following successful trials over the last couple of years, Opera North will become the first opera company to offer pre-recorded audio description for broadcast to mobile devices for all performances during the Parsifal tour, improving accessibility for audience members with a visual impairment. Selected performances of Carmen will also be offered with BSL interpretation.

Following its successful implementation for the autumn season, free tickets will be available for 16 to 20-year-olds for all performances in Leeds. Under 30s can take advantage of the schemes running in every venue to watch a performance for just £10, while newcomers to opera can book up to two tickets for £20 each at Leeds, Manchester and Nottingham through the Company’s popular Try it ON scheme.


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