Castleward Opera
Encyclopedia
Castleward Opera was a Northern Ireland
opera company which staged an annual opera festival at Castle Ward
, a National Trust House near Strangford
in County Down
. 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".
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
opera company which staged an annual opera festival at Castle Ward
Castle Ward
Castle Ward is an 18th century National Trust property located near the village of Strangford, in County Down, Northern Ireland. It overlooks Strangford Lough and is 7 miles from Downpatrick and 1.5 miles from Strangford....
, a National Trust House near Strangford
Strangford
Strangford is a small village at the mouth of Strangford Lough in County Down, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 475 people at the 2001 Census.On the other side of the lough is Portaferry and there is a ferry service between the two villages...
in County Down
County Down
-Cities:*Belfast *Newry -Large towns:*Dundonald*Newtownards*Bangor-Medium towns:...
. 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
Arts Council of Northern Ireland
The Arts Council of Northern Ireland is the lead development agency for the arts in 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".
Past productions
- 1985 – Così fan tutteCosì fan tutteCosì fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
- 1986 – Don GiovanniDon GiovanniDon Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
and The ImpressarioDer SchauspieldirektorDer Schauspieldirektor , K. 486, is a comic Singspiel written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Gottlieb Stephanie, an Austrian Schauspieldirektor.... - 1987 – The Magic FluteThe Magic FluteThe Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
and Dido and AeneasDido and AeneasDido and Aeneas is an opera in a prologue and three acts by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell to a libretto by Nahum Tate. The first known performance was at Josias Priest's girls' school in London no later than the summer of 1688. The story is based on Book IV of Virgil's Aeneid... - 1988 – L'elisir d'amoreL'elisir d'amoreL'elisir d'amore is an opera by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. It is a melodramma giocoso in two acts...
and Trial by JuryTrial by JuryTrial by Jury is a comic opera in one act, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was first produced on 25 March 1875, at London's Royalty Theatre, where it initially ran for 131 performances and was considered a hit, receiving critical praise and outrunning its... - 1989 – PagliacciPagliacciPagliacci , sometimes incorrectly rendered with a definite article as I Pagliacci, is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe...
and Gianni SchicchiGianni SchicchiGianni Schicchi is a comic opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, composed in 1917–18. The libretto is based on an incident mentioned in Dante's Divine Comedy. The work is the third and final part of Puccini's Il trittico —three one-act operas with... - 1990 – Don PasqualeDon PasqualeDon Pasquale is an opera buffa, or comic opera, in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The librettist Giovanni Ruffini wrote the Italian language libretto after Angelo Anelli's libretto for Stefano Pavesi's Ser Marcantonio ....
and Opera Scenes - 1991 – Così fan tutte and Opera Scenes
- 1992 – La traviataLa traviataLa traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
and Gems from the Irish Ring - 1993 – Lucia di LammermoorLucia di LammermoorLucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....
and La belle HélèneLa belle HélèneLa belle Hélène , opéra bouffe in three acts, is an operetta by Jacques Offenbach to an original French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy... - 1994 – La CenerentolaLa CenerentolaLa Cenerentola, ossia La bontà in trionfo is an operatic dramma giocoso in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto was written by Jacopo Ferretti, based on the fairy tale Cinderella...
and Orpheus in the UnderworldOrpheus in the UnderworldOrphée aux enfers is an opéra bouffon , or opéra féerie in its revised version, by Jacques Offenbach. The French text was written by Ludovic Halévy and later revised by Hector-Jonathan Crémieux.... - 1995 – I Capuleti e i MontecchiI Capuleti e i MontecchiI Capuleti e i Montecchi is an Italian opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini.The libretto by Felice Romani was a reworking of the story of Romeo and Juliet for an opera by Nicola Vaccai called Giulietta e Romeo. This was based on Italian sources rather than taken directly from Shakespeare...
and L'étoile - 1996 – Ariadne auf NaxosAriadne auf NaxosAriadne auf Naxos is an opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Bringing together slapstick comedy and consuming beautiful music, the opera's theme is the competition between high and low art for the public's attention.- First version :The opera was originally...
and La bohèmeLa bohèmeLa bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger... - 1997 – CarmenCarmenCarmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
and La bohème (revived for the Grand Opera House, BelfastGrand Opera House (Belfast)The Grand Opera House is a theatre in Belfast, Northern Ireland, designed by the most prolific theatre architect of the period, Frank Matcham. It opened on 23 December 1895....
) - 1998 – La traviata and Carmen (revived for the Grand Opera House, Belfast)
- 1999 – The Barber of SevilleThe Barber of SevilleThe Barber of Seville, or The Futile Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy Le Barbier de Séville , which was originally an opéra comique, or a mixture of spoken play with music...
, La SonnambulaLa sonnambulaLa sonnambula is an opera semiseria in two acts, with music in the bel canto tradition by Vincenzo Bellini to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a scenario for a ballet-pantomime by Eugène Scribe and Jean-Pierre Aumer called La somnambule, ou L'arrivée d'un nouveau seigneur.The first...
, and La traviata (revived for the Grand Opera House, Belfast) - 2000 – Madame Butterfly, MarthaMartha (opera)Martha, oder Der Markt zu Richmond is a 'romantic comic' opera in four acts by Friedrich von Flotow, set to a German libretto by Friedrich Wilhelm Riese and based on a story by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges....
, and The Barber of Seville (revived for the Grand Opera House, Belfast) - 2001 – The Marriage of FigaroThe Marriage of FigaroLe nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
, 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 Millenium Forum, Londonderry)
- 2003 – La rondineLa rondineLa rondine is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giuseppe Adami, based on a libretto by Alfred Maria Willner and Heinz Reichert...
and ToscaToscaTosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900... - 2004 – Albert HerringAlbert HerringAlbert Herring, Op. 39, is a chamber opera in three acts by Benjamin Britten.Composed in the winter of 1946 and the spring of 1947, this comic opera was a successor to his serious opera The Rape of Lucretia...
and RigolettoRigolettoRigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851... - 2005 – The Magic Flute and Carmen
- 2006 – La bohème and The Bohemian GirlThe Bohemian GirlThe Bohemian Girl is an opera composed by Michael William Balfe with a libretto by Alfred Bunn. The plot is loosely based on a Cervantes tale, La Gitanilla.The opera was first produced in London at the Drury Lane Theatre on November 27, 1843...
- 2007 – Un ballo in mascheraUn ballo in mascheraUn ballo in maschera , is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi with text by Antonio Somma. The libretto is loosely based on an 1833 play, Gustave III, by French playwright Eugène Scribe who wrote about the historical assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden...
- 2008 – Così fan tutte
- 2009 – Die FledermausDie FledermausDie Fledermaus is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée.- Literary sources :...
(also performed at Wexford Festival OperaWexford Festival OperaThe Wexford Festival Opera is an opera festival that takes place in the town of Wexford in South-Eastern Ireland during the months of October and November.-Festival origins under Tom Walsh, 1951 to 1966:...
)
Sources
- Arts Council of Northern IrelandArts Council of Northern IrelandThe Arts Council of Northern Ireland is the lead development agency for the arts in Northern Ireland....
, "New opera company for Northern Ireland", 26 January 2010 - Couling, Della, "Castleward Opera, Northern Ireland", The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, 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 NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
, 6 September 2010