“What is the tension between this ugly ideology, the beauty of the music, and the agony of the man producing it?” The final podcast of our trilogy focusing on Wagner's epic last opera is a wide-ranging, unflinching discussion between the journalist, writer and filmmaker Paul Mason and Professor Frank Finlay of the University of Leeds. Paul traces the composer’s changing philosophical viewpoints, from his early identification with the Young Hegelians and Ludwig Feuerbach, to the later...

In the second of three episodes focusing on Wagner's epic final opera, New Yorker critic and author of Wagnerism and The Rest is Noise Alex Ross and Dr. Áine Sheil of the University of York discuss gender, sexuality and ritual in Parsifal, and in Richard Wagner’s work as a whole. The multi-faceted character of Kundry – ‘Wandering Jew’, mother, seductress – is unpicked, and ambiguous readings of the brotherhood of the Grail Knights are offered. Parsifal’s enduring mystery and power is seen...

Welcome to Artistic Futures, a monthly podcast designed for anyone contemplating a career in the wonderful world of Opera. In this first episode, soprano Marie Claire Breen takes us on a trip to Scotland where she grew up and trained as an opera singer. She shares her passion for education and great audition tips too!

Poet Laureate Simon Armitage and composer Gavin Bryars consider what happens when their respective art forms are brought together. They discuss the pleasures and perils of crossing between the two disciplines, with excerpts from their work woven throughout, including tracks by Armitage’s post rock/ambient outfit LYR, and Bryars’ influential 1971 work Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet. Chaired by Dr Kimberly Campanello of the University of Leeds.

How do music, plot, staging, action, dance and performance combine to produce meaning for an opera audience? Taking a close look at Thomas Adès's The Tempest, Professor Edward Venn of the University of Leeds and choreographer and director Aletta Collins – who choreographed the opera's premiere in 2004 – explore the conversation between different elements in opera. They also consider notions of confinement and restricted movement in all three of Adès's operas.

Follow cellist and composer Abel Selaocoe and his collaborators through the rehearsal and recording of As You Are, his soundwalk for Leeds, which opened in December 2020. Western symphonic music meets traditions from across Africa in this major new Opera North commission, experienced through headphones on a 40-minute walk through central Leeds. Abel reveals how he brought the piece together with his creative team, and his hope that music can open up a space for contemplation and refuge.

Turntablist and sound artist Nicole Raymond (DJ NikNak) and poet and playwright Khadijah Ibrahiim uncover the deep roots of reggae, dub and sound system music in religion, ritual and culture. Woven through their discussion are some classic songs, versions and dub plates from the Pressure Sounds catalogue, and excerpts from their collaboration for Opera North's Resonance programme, when Nicole transformed recordings from Khadijah's audio archive, through collage, reverb, delay and scratching.

This sound walk, Alice says, is written for “that very special time of day that’s neither nighttime or daytime: that strange, luminous place where the birds are singing and we’re on the precipice of something new. "I really hope that anybody listening will find beauty and consolation in it.” Designed be taken with you on headphones, Walking Home is a series of sound walks created during lockdown for BBC Arts and Arts Council England’s Culture in Quarantine programme.

“I’d been getting up earlier and earlier and enjoying that special period when it feels like there are very few people awake", says Martin. "A conversation with my daughter was the starting point; and I’d wanted to collaborate with Laura Jurd [trumpet and tenor horn] for a while. The sound of the sun makes me think of brass”. Designed be taken with you on headphones, Walking Home is a series of sound walks created during lockdown for BBC Arts and Arts Council England’s Culture in Quarantine

This piece, says Maya, takes its cue from "walking in nature, and the different lines of thought and feelings that stream through me. The qanun performs all of these different voices. "I know a lot of people are going through a lot of grief at the moment, and I wanted this music to give them a whisper of hope”. Designed to be listened to on headphones, Walking Home is a series of sound walks created during lockdown for BBC Arts and Arts Council England’s Culture in Quarantine programme.

"During lockdown I’ve learned how much our daily interactions with people give us a different perspective on what we do and how we think”, says Khyam. “On this short journey with me, I'd like to encourage listeners to consider their environment through the perspective of one of the other people that they encounter.” Designed be taken with you on headphones, Walking Home is a series of sound walks created during lockdown for BBC Arts and Arts Council England’s Culture in Quarantine programme.

This work, intended to accompany a walk at the day’s end, is inspired by a Zulu saying, meaning "Hold the sun, so it may not set". “Here the phrase takes on a new meaning", Abel explains, "and becomes a way to soothe your worries towards the end of the day." Walking Home is a series of sound journeys created during lockdown to be listened to on headphones whilst walking, for BBC Arts and Arts Council England’s Culture in Quarantine programme.

From Monteverdi to Monty Python, cross-dressing, gross-out humour and a preoccupation with the grotesque seem to offer a release from the constrictions of moral codes and social conventions. Tenor Daniel Norman takes a trip into transgression in the company of Professor Alan O'Leary. Drawing on the theories of philosopher and critic Mikhail Bakhtin, they discuss “the licence to misbehave” in opera, film and performance. Part of the DARE partnership between Opera North and the University of...

“In cinema you are a spectator; in opera you are present. I’m fascinated by the notion that we witness in opera: we have to endure.” Ranging from Ancient Greece to The Godfather, and focusing on the operas of Puccini and Verdi, renowned art historian Professor Griselda Pollock discusses how violence is represented in painting, sculpture, film and literature, how it is performed in opera, and its implications. Produced as part of the DARE partnership between Opera North and the University of...

The Leeds-based sitarist and composer talks about bringing Indian classical music to the western symphony orchestra, ahead of the world premiere of his new sitar concerto, commissioned by Opera North. 

Director, Charles Edwards and Opera North's Editor, Stuart Leeks discuss Handel's mighty oratorio, Joshua, ahead of Opera North's new, fully-staged production at Leeds Grand Theatre

Opera North's Editor, Stuart Leeks interviews director, Tim Albery

Opera North's Editor, Stuart Leeks interviews Director, John Fulljames

Director Alessandro Talevi talks about how he shaped the concept for his production and reveals his favourite musical moments in the piece.

Stuart Leeks discusses the second part in Wagner's ring cycle with the conductor, and Opera North's Music Director, Richard Farnes.

Projects Director, Dominic Gray discusses exploring Carousel through a series of music, films, words and participation workshops.

Projects Director, Dominic Gray discusses the upcoming winter season in the Howard Assembly Room.

Conductor, James Holmes discusses Opera North's stunning new production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's timeless musical, Carousel.