My first experience of The Marriage of Figaro was as a student, accompanying rehearsals and, in my days as a violinist, leading the orchestra. I saw it on stage twice before conducting it myself; the first was at the Royal...Read More
…an opera which allegedly needs no introduction… It’s a tough job to introduce an opera which needs no introduction, so we’ll leave that task to our Music Director Jonathan Lyness, a lifelong Figaro fan – and suffice to say Mozart’s...Read More
Now we’re officially on the road, we wanted to give you a proper low down on how we’ve put together this brand-new version of The Beggar’s Opera and what you can expect if you come and see it! So how...Read More
Welcome to London’s underworld in the 18th century. To quote Star Wars’ Obi Wan Kenobi on the subject of Mos Eisley spaceport. “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.” The world...Read More
With less than a month to go until the world premiere of our new SmallStages tour, Mrs Peachum’s Guide to Love and Marriage, we caught up with Artistic Director Richard Studer, who created the production and shared his thoughts about...Read More
John Gay’s ballade opera The Beggar’s Opera was first performed at the Lincoln’s Inn Fields Theatre in London in 1728 and ran for around 60 performances. The ‘ballade opera’ was a highly popular genre – a satirical musical play with...Read More
Tosca is an opera of many victims, some fictional, some real - where an operatic ménage à trois is extrapolated into an orgy of bloodshed, torture and death. One of the most unusual tragedies associated with this opera came not...Read More
With rehearsals due to start at the end of the month, we asked MWO’s Artistic Director Richard Studer to give us an insight into preparing a new translation for Mid Wales Opera's new SmallStages production of Ravel's opera comedy L'heure...Read More
As we prepare for Autumn’s SmallStages tour of A Spanish Hour, Ravel’s L’heure espagnole, we’ve asked MWO’s Music Director Jonathan Lyness to share some of his insights into the piece and its history. Each of our SmallStages productions uses a...Read More
