As an 80-year-old company well on its way to staging 200 operas, there’s a lot of activity to keep track of at Welsh National Opera Cenedlaethol Cymru.
That’s where one of our two volunteer archivists, John Richardson, comes in. John is deeply passionate about the work of archiving, and that of WNO.
John’s been with us for 15 years, having initially joined WNO Friends when he retired to Penarth following a dual career in Music Theatre and Special Education. He toured with Opera for All, playing roles like Antonio in The Marriage of Figaro and serving as Company Manager.
We spent some time with John, asking him about some of his favourite pieces in the archive, the hopes he has for the future, and how he played a small part in bringing Death in Venice to the stage.
John Richardson with our latest programme (Blaze of Glory!) and WNO's first programme.
John, tell us why you do what you do.
I love keeping the record and seeing how the Company developed over the years. We have correspondence going back 80 years of the founder members documenting every penny of their own money they put in during those early days.
Over time people forget the facts, or they just hear that Grandad was in the opera. We help them find the proof in our thousands of documents and images. It’s not just about the paper, it’s the people that make the Company, and we have all of that history documented.
While we might not have a photograph of their Grandad, we might have their name in the original register of members, or a reference in a programme. I find great joy in finding those connections.
Why opera? What drew you to the artform?
I accidentally saw Britten’s Peter Grimes in Manchester when I was just 15, and that was it, that was me introduced to opera.
I worked for four years with Benjamin Britten at Aldeburgh, and that was such a wonderful time in my life. I've actually got music quotations written by him, which is a lovely piece to have in my own collection.
That link with Britten has continued at WNO. We have a letter from Britten himself. He wrote it to WNO’s Musical Director after a performance of Billy Budd in Spain to congratulate the Company.
Tell us about your most memorable WNO moments.
For me, when we took the production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle to the Royal Opera House, that transformed the Company's reputation from a provincial group at the time to an international company. People still talk about it 40 years later.
To be accoladed as it was; it was recorded, and broadcast - that is a highlight of the Company's history.
Back in 1989, we also took Diana, Princess of Wales, to New York and performed Verdi's Falstaff at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. That opened the Company up to so much, with gala dinners and such. That feels like a real moment in our history too.
And, during lockdown, I wrote a regular blog. In one of them, I said we had to do Death in Venice when we came back to the stage - and that’s just what happened. I like to think I played a part in that!
Welsh National Opera Cenedlaethol Cymru's 2024 production of Death in Venice.
What are your hopes for the next 80 years (or more!) for WNO?
The fact that we've kept going is an amazing achievement, the Company is still there, we're planning ahead for next season. It is the family feeling that makes WNO so special, and what will keep it going for another 80 years.
Also, it is wonderful that the same group of people can perform the light-hearted Blaze of Glory! one week and a thunderous The Flying Dutchman the next. It is the ultimate proof of our world-class calibre, and I hope we’ll continue to stage opera like this.