Opera North and English National Opera co-production
- Robert Beale
- 4 minutes ago
- 3 min read
In a welcome sign of friendly co-operation, Leeds-based Opera North is to put a northern showing of a production from English National Opera, directed by ENO’s artistic boss, in the schedule for 2026-2027 in Salford and the company's other venues. The announcement comes as ENO forms its own new out-of-London base in the Manchester city region.
Dead Man Walking is Jake Heggie’s much-praised contemporary opera, based on the memoir by Sister Helen Prejean of her decision to bring spiritual succour to a death row inmate at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in the USA. Olivier-nominated when it was seen in London last November, the production is a joint effort between the two British companies and Finnish National Opera.
The show will feature Manchester-trained Christine Rice in the lead role of Sister Helen, as in London. Johannes Moore (after his recent Opera North debut in a vivid portrayal of Ned Keene in Peter Grimes) takes the role of double-murderer Joseph De Rocher, and Kate Royal returns to the company as his mother. The opera will be conducted by Ben Glassberg.
Annilese Miskimmon, ENO’s artistic director, said: “It’s a real honour to be bringing Jake Heggie’s haunting contemporary masterpiece to life with Opera North.”
The Leeds-based company – once known as English National Opera North – has two completely new productions of standard works to offer in the season to come. One is Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, a co-production with Irish National Opera and Opera Queensland, which opens in October at Leeds Grand and tours to Newcastle Theatre Royal, Salford’s Lowry and Nottingham Theatre Royal, and a revival of Femi Elufowoju Jr’s production of Rigoletto.
There is also a concert-hall staging by Peter Mumford of Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, which will open at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall in May 2027 before touring to Nottingham and Birmingham before a performance at the refurbished Leeds Town Hall.
Eugene Onegin – in its first Opera North performances in over 20 years – will be sung in the original Russian, with English titles. Directed by Opera Queensland’s artistic director Patrick Nolan and conducted by Opera North music director Garry Walker, it will feature American baritone John Brancy as Onegin, Verity Wingate as Tatiana, and company debuts by Caspar Singh (recently seen in the title role of ENO’s Albert Herring in Salford) and Jingwen Cai as Lensky and Olga, Joshua Bloom as Prince Gremin (he sang the role in the Buxton International Festival production of 2019) and Florian Panzieri as Monsieur Triquet.
Tristan and Isolde is conducted by Opera North’s charismatic principal guest conductor Anthony Hermus, and John Matthew Myers and Wendy Bryn Harmer make their company debuts as the title characters, while Karl Huml (one of the evil Elders in Susanna, 2025)
is King Marke.
The autumn performances of Rigoletto will see the return of Sir Willard White as Count Monterone; and a revival of Alessandro Talevi’s Don Giovanni, which dominates the February to April schedule alongside Dead Man Walking, has a high-powered cast of Mark Stone in the title role, Sara Cortolezzis (Amelia in ON’s outstanding Simon Boccanegra last year) as Donna Anna, Alexandra Lowe (Royal Northern College of Music trained and Fiordiligi in ON’s Così fan tutte in 2024) as Donna Elvira, David Ireland (Duglas in Buxton International Festival’s La donna del lago 2022) as Leporello, Anthony Gregory (Ferrando in Così fan tutte) as Don Ottavio, Thomas Chenhall (Sid in Clonter Opera’s Albert Herring 2022) as Masetto and Claire Lees as Zerlina, with Blaise Malaba (heard in Peter Grimes) as the Commendatore.
There’s a new Christmas show for Leeds (Will Todd’s musical version of A Christmas Carol in the Howard Assembly Room), and a concert hall version of Jasdeep Singh Degun’s admired reimagining of Monteverdi’s Orfeo at St George’s Hall in Bradford (April 2027).
The company will also put on a show for younger audiences - the so-called Big Opera Adventure of the past two years; this time as The Big Opera Mystery in early 2027 in Leeds, Salford, Newcastle, Nottingham and Hull.
More info and tickets here
