I suspect many opera goers, sitting comfortably through the opening bars of Gianni Schicchi, won’t have wondered too much where the first beat of each bar is. The music begins, the curtain goes up, and audiences assess the stage. But...Read More
There’s more to discover behind Bernstein’s seemingly perfect suburban satire and his jazz-infused storytelling. Read the full blog by our Music Director Jonathan Lyness to find out more! Read More
In May 2020 I described in my MWO Blog how I’d started work creating a new arrangement of Janacek’s stirring masterpiece The Cunning Little Vixen. I’d opened up my laptop, launched ‘Sibelius’ and hit ‘new’. I then described how Vixen...Read More
“The timpani part in Macbeth stipulates just two timpani. The result? A host of wrong notes for the timpanist! What on earth is going on?” I received an email the other day that included a message from our timpanist for...Read More
I have to be honest: I’ve always had a somewhat equivocal relationship with Berlioz. And I know that, amongst musicians and music lovers, I’m not alone. Some of his works have widespread appeal, such as the song cycle Les nuits...Read More
“Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel would never have existed if it wasn’t for the composer’s sister, the German folklore enthusiast Adelheid Wette” The story of Hansel and Gretel begins in 1812 when two academic brothers, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, publish a...Read More
Since first encountering Xavier Montsalvatge’s music, way back in 1995, MWO’s Music Director has been fascinated by the Catalan composer’s work. Now for our SmallStages tour this Autumn, twenty years after the composer’s death, MWO are thrilled to bring Montsalvatge’s...Read More
Our Music Director Jonathan Lyness began his labour of love, creating a new score for four instruments to perform Puccini’s Il tabarro, in November 2019. Now, a year later than expected due to the Covid pandemic, he’s preparing the instrumental...Read More
by MWO’s Music Director Jonathan Lyness In my previous blog I described how, at the point of the first lockdown, I’d started work on a new reduced orchestration of Janáček’s great opera The Cunning Little Vixen. The plan has been...Read More
