Making Opera Vital | Based in Leeds, we tour the North and beyond | Find us over on @bluesky: bsky.app/profile/operanorth.…
Leeds, England, UK
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When you're out shopping... and hear THIS 😮 Soprano Anna Dennis with Mozart's famous 'Queen of the Night aria' @TrinityLeeds.
#ONMagicFlute opens @GrandTheatreLS1 this week 👉bit.ly/MagicFlute2425
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Puccini's TURANDOT premiered #OnThisDay in 1926.
To celebrate, here's Rafael Rojas with a special performance of the famous 'Nessun dorma' @TrinityLeeds (2017 – time flies!)
Rafael returns in #ONAida, opening @LeedsTownHall next week...
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Puccini, one of the greatest opera composers of all time, died #OnThisDay 100 years ago.
Here's 'Nessun dorma' from his final opera Turandot, sung @TrinityLeeds by the very much missed Rafael Rojas (1963–2022) — a moment which has moved millions online over the past few years.
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As a company, Opera North was established from @E_N_O more than 40 years ago in order to deliver opera across the North of England.
We offer our support to our friends and colleagues there facing difficult funding news this week. (1/3)
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Tickets on sale TODAY for @LITPMusical, featuring the Orchestra of Opera North, and starring @ReneeFleming and @DoveCameron:
lightinthepiazzathemusical.c…
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📽🎻 Presenting '2020: An Isolation Odyssey'
The #Orchestra of Opera North were due to perform Strauss' 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' in their final two concerts, so here's the iconic opening, in isolation, from their homes... #OperaNorthAtHome
Watch more » piped.video/nt8FhIVmR8M
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🥳🎂🥂 Happy 44th birthday to us!
Opera North was launched — as ENON, a satellite of @E_N_O — #OnThisDay in 1978, to deliver opera across the North of England.
Our inaugural production was Saint-Saëns' Samson et Dalila.
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🎂🎉🍾 4️⃣0️⃣ 🍾🎉🎂
Happy 40th Birthday to us! #OnThisDay in 1978, Opera North was launched. Keep your eyes peeled today for archive photos of the inaugural performance, and more... #OperaNorthAt40
What are your favourite Opera North memories?
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#Leeds will not forget David Oluwale.
Proud to host this plaque digitally at Opera North, along with so many others across the city.
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🎻Together again! For the first time in four months, the full #Orchestra of Opera North is reunited 🤗
Here’s some socially-distanced Brahms @LeedsTownHall under @pickard_martin
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NEWS: Announcing @laurafcanning as Opera North's new General Director & CEO, succeeding Richard Mantle OBE:
"I am looking forward to working with this exceptional team to continue to bring the joy of opera to our communities"👇
operanorth.co.uk/news/laura-…
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We were pleased to welcome our patron HRH The Duke of Kent to Opera North not long ago.
HRH watched the Orchestra rehearse, visited Costume and Wigs, saw our Education team in action, dropped into @Howard_Assembly and our restaurant Kino, joined us for #ONPearlFishers and more!
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It is with huge sadness that Opera North has learned of the death of our much-loved Company Manager, Jane Bonner.
Jane worked for the Company for more than 40 years with true dedication, passion and great care for all of our artists.
She will be remembered very fondly by us, and many colleagues over the years, who held her in such high affection.
We will be proud to dedicate the opening night of Masque of Might tonight to her memory.
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😭🤗
The strings of the Orchestra of Opera North together again @LeedsTownHall today — an emotional moment!
The first notes played after 17 weeks & two days for the strings of Orchestra @Opera_North @LeedsTownHall A seminal moment & the first step in the long road back to performing. Tomorrow we add the rest of the Orchestra.
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So... which musical instrument will YOUR pancakes be in the shape of?
(You may have seen these before, but we think they're *flipping* amazing!) #PancakeDay #ShroveTuesday
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Please consider signing the petition to show your support for @E_N_O, for the artform and for the industry.
change.org/p/reinstate-the-e…
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![May the [musical fourth] be with you](/pic/orig/media%2FE0dgqF5XIAE4ilI.jpg)
It's officially #PianoDay — the 88th day of the year 🎹
Celebrating with two fabulous pianists here (Chorus Master Olly Rundell and Repetiteur Philip Voldman) and The Magic Flute overture (this will wake you up!)
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Congratulations, you've made it through today! 💪🤗
Here's a gift from us — our Ravel's Bolero #flashmob from the Orchestra of Opera North @TrinityLeeds. It never gets old...
From the beginning » piped.video/ILNDWCLVnpw
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Great news! We have now been granted planning permission for our ambitious redevelopment project.
This will create a world-class centre for the arts in the heart of #Leeds:
operanorth.co.uk/green-light…
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🎉 Huge congratulations to our General Director (of nearly 30 years!) Richard Mantle, who has been awarded a knighthood for services to opera in the King's first Birthday Honours
#SirRichardMantle
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-yo…
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Introducing #OperaNorthAtHome: Over the next few weeks, you'll get to know our Orchestra and Chorus better as they each share something special.
First up, here's Andrew Mason, who misses being part of our #clarinet section, so... 😂😂😂
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Following the news that @E_N_O will be moving their operational base to Greater Manchester, we look forward to working with ENO to build the future of opera and classical music, sharing innovative operatic experiences with audiences here in the North:
operanorth.co.uk/news/welcom…
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We are incredibly sad to learn that tenor Rafael Rojas has passed away. A key member of the Opera North family, Rafael sang many roles here throughout his hugely distinguished career.
We are privileged to have known and worked with him. A full tribute will follow.
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"Wave hands around until music stops"
We knew there must be a secret... 😂
#FridayFun #Conductor
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Delighted to have won the @SkyArts #SouthBankAwards for #ONRing - an incredible achievement by everyone involved!
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Celebrating #WorldOperaDay with Mascagni's soaring Easter Hymn from @SopranicBrit and Opera North ensembles. Goosebumps!
This day was created to raise awareness of the power of opera and the arts to entertain and touch lives. Right now, that message is more important than ever.
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Between Christmas and New Year (when time can seem to lose all meaning...), dive into the Rhine and explore Wagner's Ring cycle, in full, for free! #ONRing
Watch » bit.ly/ON-Ring
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🎻👷Bach on a building site — it's a thing... Here's Orchestra leader David Greed with Partita No. 2 in what will be our new music rehearsal studio! #Violin
Explore the #ONMusicWorks redevelopment » bit.ly/ON_MusicWorks
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🥞Happy #PancakeDay! Somebody's got some flipping amazing musical #pancake skills here. We challenge you...
#ShroveTuesday
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Siri, what is #opera? 😂
(Playwright George Bernard Shaw was born #OnThisDay in 1856)
ALT "Opera is when a tenor and soprano want to make love, but are prevented from doing so by a baritone" – George Bernard Shaw
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An update from Opera North:
We are beginning to explore a strategic partnership with @northernballet, which would include the Orchestra of Opera North performing alongside the dancers of Northern Ballet.
Read more 👉bit.ly/ON_Update
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🎂 Mascagni was born #OnThisDay in 1863. Celebrating with the famous Intermezzo from his opera Cavalleria rusticana, played by the Orchestra of Opera North under @antonyhermus 🥺
Filmed @GrandTheatreLS1 earlier this year.
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NEWS: Delighted that @GarryWalker74 will be Opera North's new Music Director, opening the 2019/20 season conducting #ONGreekPassion, and taking up post officially in August 2020:
operanorth.co.uk/news/opera-…
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📢We’re seeking emerging female #conductors for our annual intensive nine-week training scheme.
This traineeship was launched in recognition of the fact that talented female conductors are less likely to find a way into the industry:
operanorth.co.uk/news/call-f…
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📢 Excited to announce our 2020–21 season today! New productions, returning audience favourites, exciting collaborations and more... #ON2021
Read all about it » bit.ly/20-21SeasonAnnounced
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🎂🥳 Happy Birthday to Mozart, born #OnThisDay in 1756. Do you have a favourite Mozart opera?
#ThursdayThoughts
ALT “The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between"
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Teamwork makes the dream work 💪
One of our favourite quotes, from author Terry Pratchett, born #OnThisDay in 1948.
ALT Opera happens because a large number of things amazingly fail to go wrong – Terry Pratchett
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This will potentially deny tens of thousands of people in London and beyond the chance to experience opera.
We believe audiences everywhere deserve this opportunity, right across the country. (2/3)
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Congratulations to @katieemilybray, winner of the @cardiffsinger Audience Prize! 👏👏👏
All the best to @katieemilybray, who competes for England in @cardiffsinger tonight!
Here are just some of Katie's roles with us over the past few years. Watch it here or catch the live stream:
bbc.in/31F7g9D
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With great sadness, we have learned of the death of our founding Music Director, David Lloyd-Jones.
During his tenure (1978-1990), David was the powerhouse of the Company, and we wouldn't be who we are today without his passion and determination.
A full tribute will follow.
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We are saddened to hear of the death of legendary Spanish soprano #MontserratCaballé at the age of 85. An inspiration to many!
theguardian.com/music/2018/o…
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Happy @WorldOperaDay 🎉
On the final opening night of his 30-year tenure, General Director Sir Richard Mantle brought the *whole company* of Opera North on stage @GrandTheatreLS1 for a special moment. Watch for the curtain raise!
Celebrating you all today 👏
#WorldOperaDay
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We love an infographic!
While our Parsifal (scheduled for this Spring) has had to be postponed, you can still get your #Wagner fix via #ONRing online.
Watch » bit.ly/ON-Ring
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⏰🎹 This should wake you up! An 8-hand piano arrangement of Mozart's overture to #ONFigaro — performed (all 4 parts) by our Chorus Master @oliver_rundell.
#OperaNorthAtHome #SelfIsolation
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📢We’re seeking emerging female #conductors for an intensive new ten-week training scheme.
This scheme is in recognition of the fact that talented female conductors are less likely to find a way into the industry than their male counterparts.
operanorth.co.uk/news/call-f…
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We're excited to be hosting England's first 'dementia-friendly' opera performance today, welcoming 300 people (those living with #dementia + their families and carers) to @GrandTheatreLS1.
Looking forward to making it a special experience for all!
@DementiaFriends @DementiaUK
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🦊 Can't wait to give hundreds of school pupils their first #opera experience with our School Matinees of The Cunning Little Vixen this season — at every venue!
For Upper KS2+ and includes resource pack.
Sign up » bit.ly/3nG8sWq
ALT School pupils fill the the auditorium of Leeds Grand Theatre for an opera performance
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Before the end of the year, we plan to mount concert performances of FIDELIO with an outstanding British cast, opening @LeedsTownHall before touring venues in the North #Beethoven250
Dates and venues will be announced ASAP.
More » bit.ly/SwitchON-News
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🎻 Happy #WorldViolinDay!
Here's Bach's Concerto for Two Violins played by @jack_liebeck and our recently retired Orchestra Leader of 44 years, David Greed. More » piped.video/2saONzuFHfg
What are YOUR favourite #violin pieces?
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"Can I call on Baba Bach, and on my ancestors to collaborate in the same space?"
@Abel_Cellist, as both classical musician and African musician, asks 'Where is home?' in his recording for #ONResonance (our residency that supports BAME artists)
In full » piped.video/ZJ5ohPg7Y1A
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🎉Richard #Wagner was born #OnThisDay 208 years ago. Make sure any celebratory singing is harmonised like so... ⬇️
Do you have a favourite Wagner opera?!
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Something to brighten up #BlueMonday 😁 — this never gets old!
Ravel's Bolero @TrinityLeeds with the #Orchestra of Opera North...
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Announcing today we will receive a grant from @ace_national / @DCMS / @hmtreasury #CultureRecoveryFund:
"We welcome this news with overwhelming gratitude and work with renewed determination to be #HereForCulture now and in the future."
Read more » bit.ly/ON-HereForCulture
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Tonight @LeedsTownHall, it's Mahler's epic Resurrection Symphony — the final event before the venue closes for two years!
@GarryWalker74 conducts the massed forces of our Chorus, Orchestra, @LFChorus, @leedsphil, @SophusBevanus and @ClaudiaHuckle » bit.ly/Mahler-Symphony-2
ALT There is no one who can resist it. One is battered to the ground an then raised on angel's wings to the highest heights — Gustav Mahler on Symphony No. 2
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It's that date 😜
#StarWarsDay #MayThe4thBeWithYou
ALT May the [music notes showing interval of a fourth\ be with you
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What is the best first time #opera?
Give us your opinions! ✍️
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😂One of our favourite quotes about this wonderful art form from Terry Pratchett, born #OnThisDay in 1948.
#WednesdayWisdom
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Thrilled to have been nominated for Opera Company of the Year @TheOperaAwards!
Many congrats to all #OperaAwards2018 nominees.
OPERA COMPANY OF THE YEAR #OperaAwards2018 #finalists
@bay_staatsoper
@teatrolafenice
@LyricOpera
@opergraz
@Opera_North
@Teatro_Real
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🥞Here's your challenge for #PancakeDay 2021. What will it be? Contrabassoon? Tubular bells?!
(Disclaimer: We didn't make these pancakes ourselves but think they're *flipping amazing*)
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📢 Delighted to announce @StillmanKatie as our new Orchestra Leader (only the second ever Leader in Opera North's history!) 👉 bit.ly/Orchestra-Leader
“I’m thrilled that Katie will be joining us following David Greed’s decision to step back after over 40 years with the Company. During her stints as guest leader, we have been consistently impressed by her commitment to her own music-making and to enabling others to perform at their best" — General Director @laurafcanning
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Lament for lost love — Paula Murrihy sings 'Che farò senza Euridice' from our new film documenting the recording of Gluck's #ONOrfeo @LeedsTownHall earlier this year.
Available to watch in full later today, and catch the @BBCRadio3 broadcast tomorrow » bbc.in/3gLvb10
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😍New atrium! We'll be welcoming the first audiences into this beautiful public space this week — our @Howard_Assembly in #Leeds reopens...
Still a few tickets left for tomorrow's test event » bit.ly/HAR_OpenDoors
📸: @TomArber
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Audiences in the north deserve the chance to see operatic masterpieces. Read more about why subsidy for the arts is vital:
operanorth.co.uk/news/subsid…
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👏👏👏
"We're gonna get through this together" — a special message for YOU from the living room of #ONChorus' @Rossmcinroy and @a_laurakelly via 'Together, Wherever We Go' from Gypsy.
#OperaNorthAtHome
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📢 NEWS: The Orchestra of Opera North will return to @LeedsTownHall next Friday for their first live concert in five months! A milestone on our return from lockdown 💪
Feat. Mendelssohn, Schubert, and Mozart. Tickets go on sale Monday:
operanorth.co.uk/whats-on/or…
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All the best to @Abel_Cellist for @bbcproms tonight! Programme includes an excerpt of 'As You Are', commissioned by Opera North for our soundwalk last year. Here's a snippet of the original recording...
Listen live on @BBCRadio3 7pm » bbc.in/3lZdUnH
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Delighted to be shortlisted in this year's @TheOperaAwards in the 'Education & Outreach' category!
Congrats @Opera_North_Ed
👏👏👏 #OperaAwards2020
EDUCATION & OUTREACH
-@BirminghamOpera
-@OperaBH
-@operamrhein
-@teatrolafenice
-@Opera_North
-@TheaterWien
#OperaAwards2020 #finalists
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NEWS: Excited to announce our #ON1920 season today, featuring brand new productions of rarely performed works and returning audience favourites...
operanorth.co.uk/news/new-se…
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Thrilled that last Autumn's #ONOrpheus with @SouthAsianArtUK has WON the Critics' Circle Outstanding Achievement in Opera Award for 2022. Thank you @CCMusicUK 🥹🙏
criticscircle.org.uk/music-a…
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"Your call is important to us" 😂
We've all heard it... celebrating Vivaldi, born #OnThisDay in 1678.
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😴Today's treat from #TheLullabyProject — Britten's setting of Burns' The Highland Balou (a song from a Scottish mother to her baby), with the wonderful @spconnolly and @jpianomiddleton.
Filmed @Howard_Assembly in 2017.
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We are hugely grateful to @ace_national and @DCMS for their continued support for our work.
This investment in our future is a vote of confidence which enables us to plan with certainty for 2023-26.
Full statement » bit.ly/ON-ACE-Funding
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#Singing can do so much for our wellbeing, including:
😊Releasing endorphins
🫀Introducing more oxygen into the blood
🫁Improving lung capacity
🧠Helping mental alertness
💪Letting you express yourself
...and so much more! #FromCouchToChorus
operanorth.co.uk/news/10-rea…
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Not long ago, our 60 strong chorus – and trumpets – raised the roof of @TrinityLeeds with a special pop-up performance of AIDA's Act II finale. If you missed it, here's what happened... #Leeds
In full: piped.video/Q__N4wCdM44
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Huge congratulations to Richard Farnes, who has won Conductor of the Year @RoyalPhilSoc #RPSMusicAwards! 🙌
An inspiring example of self-effacing music leadership, Richard Farnes is the winner of the #RPSMusicAwards Conductor category @Opera_North
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🎭🎉 Missed this view! Delighted to say we'll be making a return to @GrandTheatreLS1 (our home venue of more than 40 years) in Jan-Feb 2021. Season of work to be announced...
yorkshiretimes.co.uk/article…
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🎂 Happy 140th birthday to @GrandTheatreLS1!
This beautiful building opened #OnThisDay in 1878, and has been our home since Opera North began (100 years later) in 1978.
Share your #Leeds Grand Theatre memories with us! #LeedsGrandAt140
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#HappyEaster!
Your gift from us: Mascagni's soaring #Easter Hymn with @SopranicBrit and Opera North ensembles, filmed @LeedsTownHall. Chills...
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After over 30 years of involvement with Opera North (many as our Head of Music), we say goodbye to the wonderful @pickard_martin 👋
Here's a little something recorded during lockdown...
Martin conducts tonight's final #ONFalstaff @The_Lowry 💪
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“Everything is new and strange”...
But we’re all very excited to be back in front of an audience for the first time in 5 months at @LeedsTownHall tonight
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"We are concerned to learn of the Government’s intention to impose a 50% funding cut on the provision of arts training at HE level.
The success of our creative industries depends on a good arts education at all levels being accessible to everyone."
operanorth.co.uk/news/respon…
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