Masks, Monarchy and Magic: Welsh National Opera announces full details of Spring Season

• WNO’s Verdi trilogy continues with new production of Un ballo in maschera
• Joyce El-Khoury and Barry Banks return to WNO for role debuts in Roberto Devereux as Elisabetta and the title role
• Magritte-inspired The Magic Flute returns
• A new interpretation of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale to tour to smaller stages across the country

Murder on the dancefloor: Un ballo in maschera

Opening the spring season is a new production of Un ballo in maschera, where love, power and politics collide to create a tale of deception, intrigue and revenge.  The second instalment in WNO’s Verdi trilogy, the production is directed by David Pountney, conducted by WNO Conductor Laureate Carlo Rizzi and is a co-production with Oper der Stadt Bonn. 

Un ballo in maschera is a study in Kingship, and the heady relationship between personal and public affairs.  The story reveals the tragic love triangle between Amelia, her husband Renato and her lover the King (Riccardo), Renato’s best friend.  The King is obsessed with theatre and disguise, and this builds climactically to a masked ball in a backdrop of the growing conspiracy against him from his political and personal enemies.  Despite Riccardo ultimately renouncing his love for Amelia, the culmination of the piece sees Renato discovering the affair and taking matters into his own hands with devastating consequences.  The cast will include highly regarded Welsh tenor Gwyn Hughes Jones who will sing Riccardo with Mary Elizabeth Williams as Amelia and Roland Wood as Renato.

Raimund Bauer’s ‘Verdi Machine’ set design of three interlocking frames will again feature in this production, but will look distinctly different from the set of La forza del destino, designed to reflect  the way the King constantly plays with truth and disguise, and loses his sense of reality in his fascination with theatre.  Costumes are designed by Marie-Jeanne Lecca who has most recently collaborated with WNO on the highly acclaimed production of War and Peace.

WNO’s Artistic Director David Pountney says 

Heartbreak and High Treason: Roberto Devereux

Also in the spring is a revival of Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux originally directed by Alessandro Talevi. First performed in 2013 as part of WNO’s Tudor season to critical acclaim, it features Madeleine Boyd’s striking designs.  Carlo Rizzi will conduct in Cardiff and Birmingham, with James Southall taking the baton for the later dates of the tour. Sung in Italian, the opera is loosely based on the life of Robert Devereux, the Second Earl of Essex and his close relationship with Queen Elizabeth I. Fascinated by Elizabethan history, Donizetti in fact wrote three operas heavily featuring ‘the Virgin Queen’ and in all three the rumours of a fiery temper and love life are placed at the heart of the story. In Roberto Devereux the Queen is romantically linked with the eponymous Earl of Essex as he is tried for treason. Bel canto virtuoso Barry Banks returns to WNO as the titular Devereux, alongside soprano Joyce El-Khoury as Elisabetta, both making role debuts. Also joining the cast are Justina Gringyté as Sara and Gary Griffiths as Nottingham.

Magritte-inspired Marvels: The Magic Flute

Completing the spring season is a revival of Mozart’s ever-popular The Magic Flute with a production originally directed by Dominic Cooke, sung in English and conducted by Damian Iorio, making his debut with WNO. Another tale of royal adventure, this Magritte-inspired production places Prince Tamino's quest to rescue a princess and find true love into a surreal, dream-like world that features an angry lobster, a newspaper-reading lion and a fish transformed into a bicycle. The witty story of enchantment and colourful characters alongside Mozart’s music results in a unique piece of opera, particularly well known for its soaring arias sung by The Queen of The Night. The cast includes Mark Stone as Papageno, Ben Johnson as Tamino, and Anita Watson as Pamina. Making her debut with WNO, soprano Jennifer Davis also appears as First Lady, fresh from her acclaimed engagement as Elsa in Lohengrin at the Royal Opera House.

Doner Kebab flavour to production of Don Pasquale

Opening in May, WNO will take a riotous new version of comic opera Don Pasquale on the road to mid-scale venues across England and Wales. An eclectic ensemble of seven players, including accordion and saxophone, will feature in the action onstage and will be led by musical director Stephen Higgins. A new translation by Daisy Evans, who also directs, teases out the comedic narrative in a twenty-first century South Wales setting and will give audiences a new perspective on this Donizetti classic.

Andrew Shore plays the established bachelor Pasquale who, in this production, has his successful kebab business empire hijacked by the wily young lovers Norina and Ernesto, aided by local schemer Malatesta. Returning to WNO after his leading performance in 2016’s Kiss Me, Kate!, Quirijn de Lang will sing Malatesta and is joined by Nico Darmanin as Ernesto and WNO’s new Associate Artist soprano Harriet Eyley in the role of Norina. Eyley joins WNO for 18 months, and will also sing and cover roles in the 2019/2020 annual Season as well as taking part in the Company's engagement work.

Don Pasquale will visit smaller stages across Wales and England following the successful recent tour of Rhondda Rips It Up! as part of WNO’s ongoing commitment to reach a wide range of audiences with a varied operatic repertoire, in partnership with some of the country’s best regional theatres.

Director and librettist Daisy Evans says:

WNO Orchestra

WNO welcomes 2019 with a popular New Year concert series that will see WNO Orchestra performing waltzes, polkas and songs capturing the spirit of the Viennese concert hall. 'A Night in Vienna' is directed by WNO Orchestra Leader and Concertmaster David Adams with WNO Associate Artist Harriet Eyley as soloist, and will travel to six venues around Wales.

As part of the St David’s Hall International Concert Series, WNO will perform two orchestral concerts this Spring.

WNO’s Conductor Laureate, Carlo Rizzi, marks his return to the ICS for the first time since 2008, with a programme of late-Romantic masterpieces at the end of January. Violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky joins the Orchestra for Bruch's Scottish Fantasy, a four-movement fantasy based on Scottish folk-melodies, now amongst the composer’s most performed works. The concert will also include performance of Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture and Rachmaninov's ever-popular Symphony No 2. In March, WNO Music Director Tomáš Hanus will conduct the Orchestra in a programme that includes Strauss’ Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, and Brahms’ Symphony No 3 and they will be joined by pianist Paul Lewis for a performance of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 27, the composer’s final sublime and unique contribution to the form.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

•  Welsh National Opera is the national opera company for Wales. WNO is funded by the Arts Councils of Wales and England to provide large scale opera across Wales and to major cities in the English regions.
• WNO production images are available for download at http://www.wno.org.uk/press
• For more information, photos or interviews please contact  Penny James/Branwen Jones,  Press and Public Affairs Manager (job-share) on 029 2063 5038 or  penny.james@wno.org.uk / branwen.jones@wno.org.uk or Christina Blakeman, Press Officer on christina.blakeman@wno.org.uk or 029 2063 5037
• Un ballo in maschera is a co-production with Oper der Stadt Bonn and is supported by the WNO Verdi Syndicate
• We are delighted that His Excellency The Italian Ambassador is Patron of the Verdi Trilogy
• The role of WNO Music Director is supported by Marian & Gordon Pell
• WNO Orchestra Concerts at St David’s Hall are supported by Mathew & Lucy Prichard