WELSH NATIONAL OPERA’S SPRING SEASON
With the arrival of a new Artistic Director imminent, WNO is in a state of flux. In 2019, Yvette Vaughan-Jones became the first woman to take the role of Chair and Aidan Lang was named their new General Director. For their Spring Season, however, WNO are sticking to the classics, with the exception of one rarely-performed Verdi opera.
After ending his tenure as Artistic Director of WNO last year, Sir David Pountney returns to complete the Company’s critically acclaimed Verdi Trilogy with its final part – Les Vêpres Siciliennes. Pountney’s versions of the preceding instalments of the Trilogy – La Forza Del Destino and Un Ballo In Maschera – were sprawling, sumptuous romps of those two great operatic tropes: sex and death. Soprano Anush Hovhannisyan appears as bride Hélène, while Jung Soo Yun makes his WNO debut as Henri.
It’s accompanied by two crowd-pleasing favourites of the repertoire, both of which are returning productions and ideal options for first-time operagoers. The first is Mozart’s rambunctious wedding-night farce The Marriage Of Figaro, originally directed by Tobias Richter in 2016, this time with David Ireland as Figaro. The second is Bizet’s sensual masterpiece Carmen – directed by Jo Davies with a modern, feminist agenda, it returns following a well-received run in the autumn, with a new cast led by American mezzo-soprano Julia Mintzer in her UK operatic debut. Younger audiences can experience opera for as little as £5 for under-16s (when accompanied by a full-price adult) and £10 for those aged 16-29.
There’s no doubt that WNO will present these works with the poise and sophistication they’re known for. But I wonder whether it’s time the company took a few more risks in their programming, such as performing more modern pieces or giving platforms to emerging composers. In London, recent productions of operas by Birtwistle, Stockhausen and Glass have garnered rave reviews. Meanwhile, Conor Mitchell’s Abomination: A DUP Opera illustrated that this age-old art form can still have a political impact. Hopefully, these changes at the top will signal new ventures for this valued Welsh company. SAM PRYCE
Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay, Sat 8-Sat 29 Feb. Tickets: £14-£50. Info: 029 2063 5000 / www.wno.org.uk