Two new Opera North productions explore loss, memory and renewal: Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers and a contemporary dance staging of Mozart’s Requiem paired with After Tears, a new commission by South African composer Neo Muyanga.
This collaborative season sees Opera North working with a range of regional and international partners, including Leeds-based Phoenix Dance Theatre, South Asian Arts-uk, and The University of Leeds, and South African partners Jazzart Dance Theatre and Cape Town Opera.
Requiem inspires supporting events and activity such as participatory workshops in which community partnerships groups will explore movement alongside performers from Phoenix Dance Theatre. They will engage directly with the rehearsal process and artistic practice of the company.
Alongside The Pearl Fishers will run a series of events and an exhibition in partnership with The University of Leeds. to explore the challenges around representation and authenticity posed by the opera’s setting and text.
The Pearl Fishers
Opening at Leeds Grand Theatre on 16 May, The Pearl Fishers tells the story of two men, Nadir and Zurga, whose vow of friendship founders on their love for the same woman, the priestess Leïla. Bizet’s music brims with lyric beauty, imaginative orchestration, magnificent choruses and gorgeous melodies, nowhere more so than in what is perhaps the best-loved tenor/baritone duet in all opera, ‘Au fond du temple saint’.
Matthew Kofi Waldren conducts a cast including soprano Sophia Theodorides as Leïla, making her Opera North debut. Tenor Nico Darmanin (Alfredo, La traviata) returns to sing Nadir, whilst baritone Quirijn de Lang, whose most recent roles include Fredrik Egerman, A Little Night Music, and Count Almaviva, The Marriage of Figaro, takes the part of Zurga.
The Leeds Grand Theatre staging is directed by Matthew Eberhardt (Trouble in Tahiti, Street Scene), with design by Joanna Parker and Peter Mumford setting the work in an abstracted, dream-like space influenced by a dual metaphor of pearls as both a symbol of global trade and exploitation and of resurfacing precious memories and hidden desires.
The Pearl Fishers director, Matthew Eberhardt: “Our presentation of The Pearl Fishers uses the act of pearl fishing as a metaphor; just as pearls are pulled up from the seabed, so are the memories of the central characters exposed. Whilst the pearl represents beauty and desire, it also tells the story of obsession and greed. Our otherworldly space will allow our audience to sink deeper into this dark psychological story, allowing Bizet’s score to resonate with today’s audience.”
Requiem
Joining The Pearl Fishers in the Spring season is a new staging of Mozart’s iconic Requiem, as Opera North and Phoenix Dance Theatre join forces with South African partners Jazzart Dance Theatre and Cape Town Opera as part of LEEDS 2023 Year of Culture.
Mozart’s Requiem is a funeral mass composed shortly before his own death at the age of 35. It is a work that vividly confronts human mortality in music of unearthly beauty, taking audiences on a journey of the soul from the agony of loss to the terror of judgement and the freedom of redemption. The production, conceived during the COVID-19 pandemic, takes Mozart’s music as an act of remembrance, honouring those we have lost – and examining what life means for those left behind in a reflective and hopeful expression of the beauty, brutality and brevity of life.
Led by the creative team of Phoenix Dance Theatre guest Choreographer and former Artistic Director Dane Hurst, Opera North Music Director Garry Walker, and co-designers Joanna Parker and Peter Mumford, Requiem will be performed by dancers from the ensembles of Phoenix Dance Theatre and Jazzart Dance Theatre, the full Orchestra and 36 singers of the Chorus of Opera North. They will be joined by four guest singers: soprano Ellie Laugharne; mezzo-soprano Ann Taylor; tenor Mongezi Mosoaka; and bass Simon Shibambu.
The second half of the double bill, After Tears: After a Requiem is a new composition by Neo Muyanga for choir and chamber orchestra, conceived as a response to Mozart’s Requiem. Choreographed by Jazzart Dance Theatre Artistic Director Dane Hurst for dancers from Jazzart Dance Theatre and Phoenix Dance Theatre, this new work will invoke South African cultural traditions on the themes of collective loss, the rituals of mourning and remembrance, and celebration of life. It will offer a vibrant contemporary counterpoint to the classical elegance of Mozart’s choral lament.
Requiem Choreographer, Dane Hurst: “It is an incredible privilege and a great gift to be creating this new work with a team of artists and partners across the UK and South Africa. It will be a deeply moving event that honours and elevates the immense beauty, strength and fragility of life after a prolonged period of loss and darkness experienced by all since the start of the pandemic in 2020. It is a humble and sacred offering, a coming together in acknowledgement and celebration of the illuminating light of the souls who have passed onto the next journey of life and a ceremony in preparation for our continuing journey ahead.”
Leeds Grand Theatre Dates
Tue 16 May 7pm The Pearl Fishers
Thu 25 May 7pm The Pearl Fishers
Fri 26 May 7pm Requiem
Sat 27 May 7pm The Pearl Fishers
Tue 30 May 7pm Requiem
Wed 31 May 7pm The Pearl Fishers
Thu 1 June 7pm Requiem
Fri 2 June 7pm The Pearl Fishers
Sat 3 June 7pm Requiem
Sun 4 June 2pm Requiem
Cover photograph: Sophia Theodorides as Leila in The Pearl Fisher rehearsals. Credit Tom Arber.
Requiem rehearsals images: Credit Point of View Photography.
