Opera North

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 the notions of confinement and restricted movement in all three of Adès's operas: The Tempest, Powder Her Face (1995), and The Exterminating Angel (2016), which take on a new significance in the COVID-era. Musical excerpts Overture from The Tempest: Orchestra of the Royal Opera House conducted by Thomas Adès, from the 2009 EMI release The Tempest ‘Five Fathoms Deep’ from The Tempest: Cyndia Sieden with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House conducted by Thomas Adès, from the 2009 EMI release The Tempest Overture A Midsummer Night's Dream, London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Claudio Abbado, from the 1985 Deutsche Grammopho