Welsh National Opera
Encyclopedia
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
company founded in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
in 1943. The WNO tours Wales, the United Kingdom and the rest of the world extensively. Annually, it gives more than 120 performances of eight main stage operas to a combined audience of around 150,000 people. It gives regular performances in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, Llandudno
Llandudno
Llandudno is a seaside resort and town in Conwy County Borough, Wales. In the 2001 UK census it had a population of 20,090 including that of Penrhyn Bay and Penrhynside, which are within the Llandudno Community...
, and Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
in Wales, and Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...
, Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
, and Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
in England. Because the number of performances in England exceeds the number in Wales, Arts Council England
Arts Council England
Arts Council England was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three separate bodies for England, Scotland and Wales. It is a non-departmental public body of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport...
is the company's largest source of grant funding, ahead of the Arts Council of Wales
Arts Council of Wales
The Arts Council of Wales is a Welsh Government sponsored body, responsible for funding and developing the arts in Wales.Established by Royal Charter in 1946, as the Welsh Arts Council , when it merged with the three Welsh regional arts associations...
. The company has been led by Chief Executive and Artistic Director John Fisher
John Fisher (opera director)
John Fisher is a Scottish opera director, conductor, opera manager, vocal coach, and record producer. The former Artistic Administrator of La Scala in Milan, he has served as the Chief Executive and Artistic Director of the Welsh National Opera since May 2006...
since 2006.
The formation of the company
The Company was founded in Cardiff by Idloes OwenIdloes Owen
Evan Idloes Owen principal founder of the Welsh National Opera Company- Early life :Idloes Owen, was born in late 1894 in the mining village of Merthyr Vale in Glamorgan. His parents Richard and Jane originally came from Llanidloes a market town in Montgomeryshire mid-Wales. They moved to Merthyr...
(1894–1954). He was born in Wales and after developing his talent at Music College, became a composer, arranger and conductor. He performed with the pre-war Lyrian Singers in Cardiff, and considered to be one of the finest singing teachers in Wales, Geraint Evans
Geraint Evans
Sir Geraint Llewellyn Evans was a Welsh baritone or bass-baritone noted for operatic roles including Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, and the title roles in Falstaff and Wozzeck...
was one of his pupils.
In November 1943, together with a small group of music lovers, he was instrumental in forming ‘The Lyrian Grand Opera Company’. A month later at its first general meeting the name was changed to The Welsh National Opera Company. It was formed from members of the old Cardiff Grand Opera Company, the BBC Welsh Singers and the Lyrian Singers. The company gave early performances in 1945 with concerts and operatic excerpts at various venues in Cardiff. The first full season of opera came after the war in April 1946 at the Prince of Wales Theatre, Cardiff. Idloes Owen as Musical Director conducted the first performance - 'Cavalleria Rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a play written by Giovanni Verga based on his short story. Considered one of the classic verismo operas, it premiered on May 17, 1890 at the Teatro...
', which included the Welsh tenor Robert Tear
Robert Tear
Robert Tear, CBE was a Welsh tenor and conductor.Tear was born in Barry, Glamorgan, Wales, UK, the son of Thomas and Edith Tear. He attended Barry Boys' Grammar School and during this period sang in the chorus of the first Welsh National Opera's production of 'Cavalleria Rusticana' in April 1946...
who started his career as a schoolboy in this performance.
In 1948 the Welsh National Opera became a limited company and established another centre in Swansea. In January 1950 Owen invited an astute businessman Bill Smith a former secretary of the defunct Cardiff Grand Opera to be his partner to develop the potential of the new company. Smith immediately responded by booking the young Charles Mackerras
Charles Mackerras
Sir Alan Charles Maclaurin Mackerras, AC, CH, CBE was an Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan...
as conductor to take charge of The Tales of Hoffman that season. In 1951 the company made its first tour of Wales, giving performances in Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire, and Llandudno, Denbighshire. They shared a passion to make the WNO stand comparison with any other opera company in the world and in 1952 they staged Verdi’s Nabucco
Nabucco
Nabucco is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera, based on the Biblical story and the 1836 play by Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois and Francis Cornue...
. With its Biblical story, the opera needed a superb chorus, Verdi’s third opera was ideal for WNO, and it was the Company’s first in-house production. In April 1953 they toured with it for their first performances outside Wales, opening at the Bournemouth Pavilion.
The New Theatre had become the company’s Cardiff base in 1954, but without a permanent home WNO still had to tour to survive. A production of I Pagliacci had been chosen, but tragically, Idloes Owen died in Cardiff that year at the age of 59 and it was never staged.
In 1955 the company gave its first performances in London at Sadler’s Wells theatre in Islington. They performed two Verdi opera’s ‘Nabucco
Nabucco
Nabucco is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera, based on the Biblical story and the 1836 play by Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois and Francis Cornue...
’ and ‘ I Lombardi alla prima crociata’ and Wagner’s ‘Lohengrin
Lohengrin
Lohengrin is a character in German Arthurian literature. The son of Parzival , he is a knight of the Holy Grail sent in a boat pulled by swans to rescue a maiden who can never ask his identity. His story, which first appears in Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, is a version of the Knight of the...
’. They enjoyed rave reviews. The music critic of the South Wales Argus
South Wales Argus
The South Wales Argus is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Newport, south Wales. The Argus is distributed in Newport and the historic area of Monmouthshire....
Kenneth Loveland, reported the weeks’ season of operas, saying they had been an outstanding artistic success, producing record box-office figures. All this from enthusiastic amateurs who came from all over South Wales to rehearse twice a week in a garage in Frederick Street Cardiff, and for this week were just given a free rail ticket to London with eight guineas expenses!
The development of the company and orchestra
The company continued to use various professional orchestras from around the country until 1970 when a permanent orchestra, the Welsh Philharmonia was formed. The Chorus of the Welsh National Opera finally became professional in 1973. In 1979 the orchestra was re-named the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera. The development of the Orchestra during this period combined with the emergence of Welsh National Opera made it a major force in the operatic world.Although productions were initially sung in English translation, from the 1970s onwards, operas were increasingly sung in the original languages; not only Italian, German and French, but also Russian and Czech. Surtitles
Surtitles
Surtitles, also known as supertitles, are translated or transcribed lyrics/dialogue projected above a stage or displayed on a screen, commonly used in opera or other musical performances. The word "surtitle" comes from the French language "sur", meaning "over" or "on", and the English language word...
were also provided.
In 1985, the company commissioned the play-with-music After Aida
After Aida
After Aida , is a 1985 play-with-music by Julian Mitchell. It is about Giuseppe Verdi, and the pressure put upon him after his attempt to retire from composing...
from renowned playwright Julian Mitchell
Julian Mitchell
Julian Mitchell FRSL , full name Charles Julian Humphrey Mitchell, is an English playwright, screenwriter and occasional novelist...
, originally as a vehicle for the company's touring season to far-flung Welsh towns which had smaller theatres than the average opera house. The play starred Richard Griffiths
Richard Griffiths
Richard Griffiths, OBE is an English actor of stage, film and television. He has received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Featured Actor and a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor...
and Ian Charleson
Ian Charleson
Ian Charleson was a Scottish stage and film actor. He is best known internationally for his starring role as Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell, in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire. He is also well known for his portrayal of Rev...
and included a rotating cast of 12 WNO singers. It eventually transferred to London's Old Vic Theatre.
Alban Berg
Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique.-Early life:Berg was born in...
, Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
, Leoš Janáček
Leoš Janácek
Leoš Janáček was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and all Slavic folk music to create an original, modern musical style. Until 1895 he devoted himself mainly to folkloristic research and his early musical output was influenced by...
and Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
.
In 2004, WNO acquired its first permanent home in Cardiff in the Wales Millennium Centre
Wales Millennium Centre
Wales Millennium Centre is an arts centre located in the Cardiff Bay area of Cardiff, Wales. The site covers a total area of . Phase 1 of the building was opened during the weekend of the 26–28 November 2004 and phase 2 opened on 22 January 2009 with an inaugural concert...
, a performing arts centre in Cardiff Bay
Cardiff Bay
Cardiff Bay is the area created by the Cardiff Barrage in South Cardiff, the capital of Wales. The regeneration of Cardiff Bay is now widely regarded as one of the most successful regeneration projects in the United Kingdom. The Bay is supplied by two rivers to form a freshwater lake round the...
.
The opera company consists of a professional orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
(The Orchestra of Welsh National Opera) and a professional choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
(The Chorus of Welsh National Opera). Sometimes, the orchestra and the choir perform at events independently of one another. The orchestra and the choir often perform at St David's Hall
St David's Hall
St David's Hall is a performing arts and conference venue in the heart of Cardiff city centre, the capital of Wales...
in Cardiff and at other venues throughout Wales.
Past WNO music directors have included Vilém Tauský
Vilém Tauský
Vilém Tauský CBE was a Czech conductor and composer.-Life:Vilém Tauský was from a musical family: his Viennese mother had sung Mozart at the Vienna State Opera under Gustav Mahler, and her cousin was the operetta composer Leo Fall.Tauský studied with Leoš Janáček and later became a repetiteur at...
, Warwick Braithwaite
Warwick Braithwaite
Henry Warwick Braithwaite was a New Zealand-born orchestra conductor. He worked mostly in Great Britain and was especially known for his work in opera....
, Sir Richard Armstrong
Richard Armstrong (conductor)
Sir Richard Armstrong, CBE is a British conductor. He was educated at Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he was an organ scholar.-Overview:...
and Sir Charles Mackerras
Charles Mackerras
Sir Alan Charles Maclaurin Mackerras, AC, CH, CBE was an Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan...
. Carlo Rizzi was music director from 1992 to 2001. Tugan Sokhiev
Tugan Sokhiev
Tugan Taymourazovitch Sokhiev is an Ossetian conductor.Sokhiev began piano studies at age 7. He began to conduct at age 17, inspired by Anatoly Briskin, the conductor of the North Ossetia State Philharmonic Orchestra. He subsequently attended the Saint Petersburg Conservatory and was a pupil of...
became music director in 2003, initially with a five-year contract. However, Sokhiev terminated his contract in August 2004, after concerns about his relative inexperience and difficulties with the administration caused tension within WNO. Rizzi returned as WNO music director for his second tenure, and served in the post through the end of the 2007 summer season. In July 2008, WNO announced the appointment of the German conductor Lothar Koenigs
Lothar Koenigs
Lothar Koenigs is a German conductor.Koenigs received his general secondary education at Aachen's Kaiser-Karls-Gymnasium, while studying piano and conducting at the Cologne Conservatory. After his studies he held appointments in Hagen, Münster and Bonn. From 2000 to 2003, he was...
as WNO's next music director, effective in 2009. He had first appeared with the WNO orchestra in 2005. Koenigs had subsequently conducted at WNO in February 2007 in David Pountney's production of Khovanshchina.
Music Directors
- Idloes Owen (1943-1951) founder and first musical director
- Vilém TauskýVilém TauskýVilém Tauský CBE was a Czech conductor and composer.-Life:Vilém Tauský was from a musical family: his Viennese mother had sung Mozart at the Vienna State Opera under Gustav Mahler, and her cousin was the operetta composer Leo Fall.Tauský studied with Leoš Janáček and later became a repetiteur at...
(1951-1956) - Warwick BraithwaiteWarwick BraithwaiteHenry Warwick Braithwaite was a New Zealand-born orchestra conductor. He worked mostly in Great Britain and was especially known for his work in opera....
(1956–1960) - Sir Charles GrovesCharles GrovesSir Charles Barnard Groves CBE was an English conductor. He was known for the breadth of his repertoire and for encouraging contemporary composers and young conductors....
(1961–1963) - Bryan BalkwillBryan BalkwillBryan Havell Balkwill was an English orchestral conductor.Balkwill was born in London. He started to learn to play the piano at the age of four and was educated at Merchant Taylors' School. From there he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music...
(1963–1967) - Sir Richard ArmstrongRichard Armstrong (conductor)Sir Richard Armstrong, CBE is a British conductor. He was educated at Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he was an organ scholar.-Overview:...
(1973–1986) - Sir Charles MackerrasCharles MackerrasSir Alan Charles Maclaurin Mackerras, AC, CH, CBE was an Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan...
(1987–1992) - Carlo RizziCarlo Rizzi (conductor)Carlo Rizzi is an Italian conductor.Rizzi studied music at the Milan Conservatory. He later was a conducting student of Vladimir Delman, in Bologna, and with Franco Ferrara in Siena. His opera conducting debut was in 1982, with Donizetti's L'ajo nell'imbarazzo...
(1992–2001) - Tugan SokhievTugan SokhievTugan Taymourazovitch Sokhiev is an Ossetian conductor.Sokhiev began piano studies at age 7. He began to conduct at age 17, inspired by Anatoly Briskin, the conductor of the North Ossetia State Philharmonic Orchestra. He subsequently attended the Saint Petersburg Conservatory and was a pupil of...
(2003–2004) - Carlo Rizzi (2004–2007)
- Lothar KoenigsLothar KoenigsLothar Koenigs is a German conductor.Koenigs received his general secondary education at Aachen's Kaiser-Karls-Gymnasium, while studying piano and conducting at the Cologne Conservatory. After his studies he held appointments in Hagen, Münster and Bonn. From 2000 to 2003, he was...
(2009-present)
External links
- Welsh National Opera
- Wales Millennium Centre: Home to WNO
- Welsh National Opera Theatre Breaks
- "The First Digital Tristan - a talk with the Maestro, the Hero and the Boss" by Bruce Duffie. Wagner News, February, 1982.