Opera North: history and repertoire, seasons 1978–79 to 1980–81

Last updated January 01, 2025

Opera North is an opera company based at The Grand Theatre, Leeds, England. This article covers its establishment and early years.

History

On 10 March 1976, at a reception at Harewood House, a plan to make the Grand Theatre a northern home for English National Opera (ENO) was unveiled. The Arts Council of Great Britain was prepared to back the scheme, provided that the local authorities in the area would also contribute funding. With Leeds City Council in the lead, sufficient funds were forthcoming, although there was some slippage in the proposed timetable. English National Opera North (ENON) was established in late 1977, with Lord Harewood as Managing Director and Graham Marchant as General Administrator. Its first performance (of Saint-Saëns's Samson et Dalila ) was given on 15 November 1978. The opera was conducted by the founding Music Director of the company, David Lloyd-Jones.^[1]

In the inaugural 1978–79 season, 11 operas were performed. Six were new productions, four of them directed by Patrick Libby, ENON's Director of Productions. The remaining five productions comprised one from Scottish Opera (Colin Graham's Peter Grimes ) and four from ENO. Before the end of the season, the company toured The Marriage of Figaro to Barnsley, Scarborough and Darlington.

the 1979–80 season saw two more Libby productions (one of them the rarely performed A Village Romeo and Juliet by Frederick Delius who was born in Bradford), six, including Richard Rodney Bennett's The Mines of Sulphur, borrowed from ENO, one revival from 1978 to 1979, Wendy Toye's new The Merry Widow and Steven Pimlott's spectacular new Nabucco . Libby's Rigoletto was played in a tent in Sheffield as well as at the company's regular venues in Newcastle, Salford and Nottingham.

Most productions during this period were conducted by Lloyd-Jones. Clive Timms, Opera North's Head of Music, and John Pryce-Jones, Chorus Master, also conducted, with Elgar Howarth, Gabriele Bellini and David Parry as guest conductors. A stalwart of ENO, Robert Ferguson, sang many of the leading tenor roles, frequently with John Rawnsley and/or Stuart Harling (baritones) and John Tranter (bass). Guest singers included Josephine Veasey, Ann Murray, Elizabeth Harwood, Della Jones, Elizabeth Vaughan, Joan Carden, Felicity Palmer, Graham Clark, David Hillman, Peter Glossop, Forbes Robinson, Derek Hammond-Stroud and Norman Bailey. Another special guest, in the non-singing role of Frosch in Die Fledermaus, was Clive Dunn of Dad's Army fame.

As well as performing during this period at its regular venues, the company also visited Dortmund (with Peter Grimes), Glasgow (with Nabucco and Carmen) and Buxton.

At the end of the 1981–82 season, English National Opera North changed its name to Opera North and became an independent entity.

Repertoire

Below is a list of main stage^[2] operas performed by the company during the period when it was known as English National Opera North.

Season	Opera^[3]	Composer	Conductor	Director	Designer^[4]
1978–79	Samson et Dalila	Saint-Saëns	David Lloyd-Jones	Patrick Libby	John Stoddart
1978–79	Les mamelles de Tirésias ^[5]	Poulenc	Clive Timms	John Copley	Robin Don
1978–79	Dido and Aeneas ^[6]	Purcell	Clive Timms	Ian Watt‑Smith	Alexander McPherson
1978–79	La bohème	Puccini	David Lloyd‑Jones/ Clive Timms	Patrick Libby	Margaret Harris
1978–79	Orpheus in the Underworld	Offenbach	Clive Timms	Wendy Toye	Malcolm Pride
1978–79	The Magic Flute	Mozart	David Lloyd-Jones	Anthony Besch	John Stoddart
1978–79	Hänsel und Gretel	Humperdinck	David Lloyd-Jones	Patrick Libby	Adam Pollock
1978–79	Die Fledermaus	J Strauss	David Parry	Patrick Libby	Jane Kingshill
1978–79	Peter Grimes	Britten	David Lloyd-Jones	Colin Graham	Alix Stone
1978–79	The Marriage of Figaro	Mozart	David Lloyd-Jones/ John Pryce-Jones	Patrick Libby	Robin Don
1978–79	La traviata	Verdi	Clive Timms	John Copley	David Walker
1979–80	Rigoletto	Verdi	John Pryce-Jones/ Clive Timms	Patrick Libby	Maria Björnson
1979–80	Tosca	Puccini	David Lloyd-Jones	Steven Pimlott	Margaret Harris
1979–80	The Flying Dutchman	Wagner	David Lloyd-Jones	Basil Coleman	Robin Don
1979–80	The Merry Widow	Lehár	David Lloyd-Jones/ John Pryce-Jones	Wendy Toye	Bob Ringwood
1979–80	Hänsel und Gretel	Humperdinck	David Parry	Revival of 1978–79 production
1979–80	Carmen	Bizet	Clive Timms	John Copley	Stefanos Lazaridis
1979–80	Der Rosenkavalier	R Strauss	David Lloyd-Jones	John Copley	David Walker
1979–80	The Mines of Sulphur	Bennett	Clive Timms	Colin Graham	Alix Stone
1979–80	Nabucco	Verdi	Elgar Howarth	Steven Pimlott	Stefanos Lazaridis
1979–80	A Village Romeo and Juliet	Delius	David Lloyd-Jones	Patrick Libby	John Fraser
1979–80	Le Comte Ory	Rossini	David Lloyd-Jones	Anthony Besch	Peter Rice
1980–81	Jenůfa	Janáček	David Lloyd-Jones	David Pountney	Maria Björnson
1980–81	L'elisir d'amore	Donizetti	Clive Timms	Michael Geliot	Michael Beaven
1980–81	La traviata	Verdi	Gabrielle Bellini	Revival of 1978–79 production
1980–81	The Merry Widow	Lehár	David Lloyd-Jones	Revival of 1979–80 production
1980–81	The Tales of Hoffmann	Offenbach	David Lloyd-Jones	Anthony Besch	John Stoddart
1980–81	La bohème	Puccini	Clive Timms	Revival of 1978–79 production
1980–81	Oedipus rex ^[7]	Stravinsky	David Lloyd-Jones	Patrick Libby	Stefanos Lazaridis
1980–81	Les mamelles de Tirésias^[8]	Poulenc	Clive Timms	Revival of 1978–79 production
1980–81	Tosca	Puccini	David Lloyd-Jones	Revival of 1979–80 production
1980–81	The Magic Flute	Mozart	David Lloyd-Jones	Revival of 1978–79 production
1980–81	Don Giovanni	Mozart	David Lloyd-Jones	David Pountney	Maria Björnson
1980–81	The Barber of Seville	Rossini	John Pryce-Jones	Patrick Libby	Frances Tempest/ Steve Addison
1980–81	Der Freischütz	Weber	Clive Timms	Steven Pimlott	John Fraser

Sources

Leeks, Stuart, ed. (2003). Opera North @ 25. Leeds: Opera North.

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References

↑ Leeds Classical Music: English National Opera North
↑ "Main stage" means operas performed at Leeds Grand Theatre and a number of touring venues; small-scale productions are not included. Semi-staged concert performances at Leeds Town Hall and other similar venues are included, but concert performances without any staging are not.
↑ Titles in Bold are new productions. Unbolded titles that are not revivals of Opera North productions are productions that originated at English National Opera, Scottish Opera, Welsh National Opera and Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Opera titles are the titles used in Wikipedia articles and not necessarily those used by Opera North.
↑ Where two designers are credited, the first-named designed the set and the second designed the costumes
↑ Performed as a double-bill with Dido and Aeneas
↑ Performed as a double-bill with Les mamelles de Tirésias
↑ Performed as a double-bill with Les mamelles de Tirésias
↑ Performed as a double-bill with Oedipus rex