Opera Now Winter 2024

The emotional lives of performers is something very close to my heart. Having dealt with severe performance anxiety when studying cello at music college, I have often wondered how opera singers are able to manage this aspect of their career. Just as ballet dancers have the added pressure of body image, opera singers are often encountering traumatic storylines and libretti which impact their lives, even outside of the theatre. This month’s Opera Now looks at many different elements to a performer’s inner life. We speak to Huw Montague Rendall, whose debut album Contemplation looks at the roles that have helped him through difficult times. He was also open about how roles can sometimes embed themselves into his psyche, even turning up in his dreams. Our cover star Nadine Sierra has…

Tell us about your journey into opera I’ve always been a noisy person, even as a kid! I grew up surrounded by and engaging in all kinds of music, and for as long as I remember I have wanted to be part of something bigger, making beautiful things with other people. When I was young this manifested in me wanting to run away and join the circus(!) but when I saw an opera for the first time it really just clicked. To be surrounded by so many incredible artists and craftspeople on all sides, and to be a small part in making these stories come to life … to say that it’s now my job is a dream come true. What does your role as education artist-in-residence at Scottish Opera…

WHAT’S HAPPENING AND COMING UP IN THE OPERA WORLD Musicians’ Union members in the Welsh National Opera orchestra and chorus took industrial action on Saturday 21 September during the opening night of WNO’s new production of Rigoletto. Action short of strike took place by members of the orchestra, who leafleted the audience on their way into the performance and wore campaign T-shirts instead of their usual concert dress for the performance. The musicians are calling on management, Arts Council of Wales and Arts Council England to keep WNO as a full-time company, to stop the proposed 15 per cent pay cut and agree a sustainable funding package to secure WNO’s future, including touring. More than 11,000 people have signed a petition by company musicians to protect WNO and the MU…

London’s Wigmore Hall has announced the prizewinners of its 2024 Wigmore Hall/Bollinger International Song Competition. Following a final round held at Wigmore Hall on 11 September, 20-year-old mezzo-soprano Anja Mittermüller was named the youngest winning singer in the competition’s history, taking home the top prize of £10,000. Seattle Opera has announced James Robinson as the company’s next general and artistic director. Robinson started on 4 September and will replace Christina Scheppelmann, who takes over as artistic director of Brussels’ La Monnaie/De Munt in January 2025. Soprano Henna Mun has been named as the winner of Glyndebourne John Christie Award. The announcement was made from the stage at the Glyndebourne Opera House during Glyndebourne chairman Gus Christie’s traditional last night speech. The award includes a £15,000 scholarship and is designed to…

Welsh National Opera has announced a significant leadership change with the appointment of opera and theatre director Adele Thomas and creative producer Sarah Crabtree as the company’s joint general directors and CEOs, effective from January 2025. The decision follows former CEO Aidan Lang’s announcement of his retirement from the company last September. Thomas and Crabtree expressed their enthusiasm about their new roles, stating, ‘We are passionate exponents of the power of opera; the impact of the raw, unadulterated voice, its profound liveness, and its dedication to scale that enables us to tell the great stories of our time … At the heart of our philosophy is a deeply held belief in the democratic spirit in which WNO was founded and still holds today: that opera is for everyone.’ Adele Thomas…

The board of the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestras has announced that conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner, founder of the Monteverdi Choir, the English Baroque Soloists and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, will not be returning to the organisation. He has now announced the formation of a new ensemble named The Constellation Choir and Orchestra, which goes on tour in December in Europe, but not the UK. Gardiner withdrew from public music-making following an assault on bass singer Will Thomas after a performance of Berlioz’ opera Les Troyens at the Berlioz Festival at La Côte-Saint-André in France last August. Earlier this year Gardiner said in a statement: ‘August’s incident [is] something for which I have accepted full responsibility and profoundly regret.’ Over the past year the MCO considered the possibility of…