An Anglo-Russian summer offensive!

8:16am Thursday 14th June 2007

After 14 years away Opera North returned to Bradford's Alham-bra last summer with a short season of triumphant performances.

And they'll be back again next month with performances of works old and comparatively new.

Last year the company began its Bradford comeback after its long absence in the dead of winter. This year they arrive in summer with six performances: two of Mozart's The Magic Flute, two of Verdi's Rigoletto and one each of Purcell's Dido & Aeneas and Stravinsky's Les Noces (The Wedding).

The week at the Alhambra concludes with a double bill, bringing together the Purcell, which was written in 1689, and the Stravinsky, first written in 1912 and re-scored for the Ballet Russes in 1923.

Les Noces is rarely staged, principally because Stavinsky demanded four vocal soloists, four grand pianos, a percussion ensemble, a full orchestra and a 36-strong chorus. And yet the piece lasts for only 25 minutes.

For these two productions 12 professional dancers join soloists and the chorus and orchestra of Opera North. Dido & Aeneas is a dance drama, Les Noces is an opera in which dance figures throughout.

Director and choreographer Aletta Collins explained the reasoning for linking the English and Russian works.

"Dido is just an hour in length so, early in the planning of the production, we had to ask what piece we could put with it.

"In doing this we took ourselves into the world of Dido, a woman who has been married, whose husband has been killed and who has fallen in love with this man Aeneas and is now facing the dilemma of what to do about it.

"In comparison, Les Noces looks at the similar but contrasting dilemma and confusion of a young couple about to be married.

"The essence of the piece, which I have always known and loved, is not about the actual event but all of the peripheral elements associated with it, the emotions of the couple and their fear and anxiety about what this commitment means.

"This is a hugely ambitious programme, creating a high-energy evening of thrilling entertainment. Les Noces and Dido are famously short, but what happens in these time-scales is vast.

"There will be lots of acting, singing, dancing - lots of everything that Opera North does best!"

Last year Opera North's production of Kurt Weill's rarely-performed Arms and the Cow attracted a sizeable Alhambra audience who gave it a very good reception.

Adam Renton, the man in charge of Bradford theatres, later told the T&A that this demonstrated that the appetite for opera in Bradford was bigger than some people may have thought.

Putting on The Magic Flute and Rigoletto, the two main operas of the week, is unlikely to contradict Mr Renton's assertion; these operas are regular international crowd-pleasers.

Opera is still regarded in some quarters as high art; yet when Mozart wrote The Magic Flute, opera performed outside the conventions of the royal court was regarded as vulgar entertainment.

The two performances at the Alhambra will be sung in English. The Verdi opera, however, will be sung in Italian but with English titles. Dido & Aeneas will be sung in English, Les Noces in Russian.

• The Opera North week at the Alhambra runs from July 3 to 7. For tickets and more information ring (01274) 432000.

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