Castleward Opera was a
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
opera company which staged an annual
opera festival
This is an inclusive list of opera festivals and summer opera seasons, and music festivals which have opera productions. This list may have some overlap with Early music festivals, list of early music festivals. Opera is part of the Western clas ...
at
Castle Ward, a
National Trust
The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...
house near
Strangford in
County Down
County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...
. It was founded in 1985 by Ian Urwin and Jack Smith, with performances taking place in a converted stable on the grounds of the castle. Following the cut to its core funding by the
Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the festival saw its final opera performances in June 2009 and in September 2010 held two gala farewell concerts of highlights from the company's 25-year history. In January 2010, a new venture, supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, was proposed—Opera Company NI—which the Arts Council said would "incorporate the best resources from Castleward Opera and Opera Fringe".
[Arts Council of Northern Ireland (26 January 2010)]
Past productions
*1985 – ''
Così fan tutte
(''Women are like that, or The School for Lovers''), Köchel catalogue, K. 588, is an opera buffa in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was first performed on 26 January 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. The libretto was written ...
''
*1986 – ''
Don Giovanni
''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; full title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legen ...
'' and ''
The Impresario''
*1987 – ''
The Magic Flute'' and ''
Dido and Aeneas''
*1988 – ''
L'elisir d'amore'' and ''
Trial by Jury
A jury trial, or trial by jury, is a legal proceeding in which a jury makes a decision or findings of fact. It is distinguished from a bench trial, in which a judge or panel of judges makes all decisions.
Jury trials are increasingly used ...
''
*1989 – ''
Pagliacci
''Pagliacci'' (; literal translation, 'Clowns') is an Italian opera in a prologue and two acts, with music and libretto by Ruggero Leoncavallo. The opera tells the tale of Canio, actor and leader of a commedia dell'arte theatrical company, who mu ...
'' and ''
Gianni Schicchi''
*1990 – ''
Don Pasquale'' and Opera Scenes
*1991 – ''Così fan tutte'' and Opera Scenes
*1992 – ''
La traviata'' and Gems from the Irish Ring
*1993 – ''
Lucia di Lammermoor'' and ''
La belle Hélène''
*1994 – ''
La Cenerentola'' and ''
Orpheus in the Underworld
''Orpheus in the Underworld'' and ''Orpheus in Hell'' are English names for (), a comic opera with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Hector-Jonathan Crémieux, Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy. It was first performed as a two-act "op ...
''
*1995 – ''
I Capuleti e i Montecchi'' and ''
L'étoile''
*1996 – ''
Ariadne auf Naxos'' and ''
La bohème
''La bohème'' ( , ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions '':wikt:quadro, quadri'', ''wikt:tableau, tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto b ...
''
*1997 – ''
Carmen
''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the O ...
'' and ''La bohème'' (revived for the
Grand Opera House, Belfast)
*1998 – ''La traviata'' and ''Carmen'' (revived for the Grand Opera House, Belfast)
*1999 – ''
The Barber of Seville
''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( ) is an ''opera buffa'' (comic opera) in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's French comedy ' ...
'', ''
La Sonnambula'', and ''La traviata'' (revived for the Grand Opera House, Belfast)
*2000 – ''
Madame Butterfly'', ''
Martha'', and ''The Barber of Seville'' (revived for the Grand Opera House, Belfast)
*2001 – ''
The Marriage of Figaro
''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienn ...
'', ''Madame Butterfly'', and ''Martha'' (revived for the Grand Opera House, Belfast)
*2002 – ''Lucia di Lammermoor'', ''La belle Hélène'', and ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (revived for the
Millennium Forum, Londonderry)
*2003 – ''
La rondine'' and ''
Tosca''
*2004 – ''
Albert Herring'' and ''
Rigoletto
''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play '' Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had c ...
''
*2005 – ''The Magic Flute'' and ''Carmen''
*2006 – ''La bohème'' and ''
The Bohemian Girl
''The Bohemian Girl'' is an English language Romantic opera composed by Michael William Balfe with a libretto by Alfred Bunn. The plot is loosely based on a Miguel de Cervantes' tale, ''La gitanilla''.
The best-known aria from the piece is "I D ...
''
*2007 – ''
Un ballo in maschera''
*2008 – ''Così fan tutte''
*2009 – ''
Die Fledermaus'' (also performed at
Wexford Festival Opera)
See also
*
List of opera festivals
*
Country house opera
*
Country House Theatres
Notes and references
Sources
*
Arts Council of Northern Ireland"New opera company for Northern Ireland" 26 January 2010
*Couling, Della
''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', 14 June 1995
*Dervan, Michael
"North stages opera revamp" ''
Irish Times'', 8 February 2010
*Spackman, Conor
"The fat lady sings for Castle Ward opera" BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
, 6 September 2010
External links
Official website
British opera companies
Music organisations based in Northern Ireland
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