Opera North – Mozart: Requiem and Neo Muyanga: After Tears
I have known and loved Mozart’s Requiem for over 50 years, the last and, intriguingly, unfinished work by one of music’s unequivocal geniuses. I have sung in it. I have listened to dozens of performances and recordings, from church settings to concert hall, chamber choirs to major choral societies, organ accompaniment to full classical orchestra, […]
A Passionate Woman – celebrating the life of Kay Mellor at Leeds Playhouse
It has been a year since Kay Mellor died, and thirty years since this play premiered at the Yorkshire Playhouse. This revival was a celebration of Mellor, her links to Leeds – and the Playhouse. A Passionate Woman is about love, loss and family. The love for Mellor’s work was palpable in the enthusiastic reception […]
Opera North: The Pearl Fishers at Leeds Grand Theatre
Like Mozart and Schubert before him, Georges Bizet did not see out his thirties. Unlike them, his published output, from first to last, consisted of works destined solely for the theatre. Carmen, the world’s most-performed opera, would be Bizet’s last triumph. The Pearl Fishers, given here in director Matthew Eberhardt‘s new realisation for Opera North, […]
Quality Street – A Northern Bridgerton with Quality of Its Own
The Courtyard Theatre at Leeds Playhouse is quickly becoming one of my favourite venues. On several occasions, I’ve gone to see a production there that I’ve known nothing about, feeling a bit dubious, and have been thoroughly delighted to be surprised by an excellent show. ‘Quality Street’ is another such show, going to prove that […]
Sinfonia – at Leeds Playhouse This Week
Sinfonia is a new work by The Performance Ensemble. It is part of 1001 Stories, a collaboration between The Performance Ensemble, Leeds Playhouse, Leeds Museums and Galleries and Leeds Older People’s Forum for LEEDS 2023. The seventy-five minute show intertwines dance, music and stories. Artistic Director Alan Lyddiard sees the work of Performance Ensemble as ‘the space between professional, amateur and community arts […]
