From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Birmingham Opera Company
Birmingham Opera Company
Birmingham Opera Company opment for its production of Verdi’s La Traviata in 2007 in
which 300 local participants performed to an audience of
almost 10,000 people at the National Indoor Arena.
Birmingham Opera Company has a long and success-
ful relationship with BBC. In 2011, a film version of Birm-
ingham Opera Company was broadcast alongside an hour
long documentary "Verdi; The Director’s Cut" on Graham
Vick’s work abroad and in Birmingham. Othello also was
also selected for "The Best of European Opera" which
was broadcast on Christmas Day 2010 and to be broadcast
across the European Union in 2011.
Birmingham have commissioned a opera from com-
poser Jonathan Dove and librettist Alasdair Middleton
After two decades, Graham Vick remains Artistic
Director.
Previous productions
Graham Vick coaches the chorus during a rehearsal
November 2010 The Wedding Words and music by Igor
Formation 1987 (1987) Stravinsky Performed at AE Harris Buildings in the
Location Birmingham, England Jewellery Quarter Birmingham
Director Graham Vick April -September 2010 A Man of Feeling by Stephen Oliv-
er Graham Vick directed a new production of Stephen
Birmingham Opera Company is a professional opera com- Oliver’s A Man of Feeling staged in Birmingham in venues
pany based in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham, Eng- as varied as The Custard Factory, The Yardbird and The
land, that specialises in innovative and avant-garde pro- CBSO Centre and for the Stephen Oliver 60th Birthday
ductions[1][2][3] of the operatic repertoire, often in un- Anniversary at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival at Nor-
usual venues. wich Playhouse.
The company was founded by leading international
opera director Graham Vick and conductor Simon Halsey December 2009 Othello Verdi At Argyle Works, Little Barr
as the City of Birmingham Touring Opera in 1987, acquiring Street, Birmingham The UK’s first Black Othello, a cast
its current name in 2001. of hundreds of volunteers alongside international artists
Besides small local venues such as community cen- drawing the BBC to make a documentary film of Graham
tres and public spaces in the Birmingham area, unusual Vick’s work in Birmingham and abroad and to make a
venues have included a dilapidated warehouse on the BBC film version for broadcast.
edge of a local housing estate, a large tent beside Villa
Park, the Aston Villa Football Club grounds, and an old August 2008 "King Idomeneo" Mozart Performed at the
car parts factory close by.[4] disused Sherborne Rubber Company
The company won the Prudential Award for Opera in
1991 for its first production of Wagner’s mammoth Ring March 2007 He Had It Coming, Mozart. Performed at the
Cycle, and the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Mu- disused The Old Municipal Bank, Broad Street Birming-
sic for its 2001 production of Berg’s Wozzeck in a derelict ham.
warehouse in Ladywood.[5] 2006 Ariadne Sells Out The Prologue from Richard
The company won a South Bank Show Award for Best Strauss’s Ariadne on Naxos Presented in The Que Club/
Opera for its production of Beethoven’s Fidelio (2002). The Central Methodist Hall, Corporation Street Birmingham
South Bank Show also made a programme on the compa- in November 2006.
ny which was broadcast on ITV. Fidelio was also broadcast April 2005 Ulysses Comes Home, Monteverdi. In a dis-
live on BBC4. Birmingham Opera Company has recently used ice rink, Birmingham.
been nominated for the RPS Award for Audience Devel-
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Birmingham Opera Company
August 2004 Women Beware, Monteverdi. Performed • 1994 Faust, Gounod
on and beside the Fazeley Canal beneath a railway arch • 1994 Silas Marner, Howard Goodall
on the approach to Snow Hill Station, Birmingham. • 1993 Beauty & the Beast, Stephen Oliver
July 2004 Curlew River, Benjamin Britten. With Birm- • 1993 Ghanashyam, Ravi Shankar
ingham Contemporary Music Group BBC Proms, Royal Al- • 1992 La bohème, Puccini
bert Hall and broadcast on BBC4 and Radio 3 and CBSO • 1992 Zaide, Mozart
Centre, Birmingham • 1991 Peace, Carl Davis
June 2004 Rites of Spring, Monteverdi. Al fresco perfor- • 1990 The Ring Saga, Wagner
mances outside St Philip’s Cathedral, beside the canal at • 1988 The Magic Flute, Mozart
Symphony Hall and in the Japanese Garden in Brindley • 1987 Eis Thanaton, John Tavener
Place. • 1987 La bohème, Puccini
January 2004 Mortal Combat, Monteverdi. After shop-
ping hours in the new Bullring shopping centre. Per-
formed outside Debenhams for an audience made up of
External links
people who had specifically come for the performance • Official Website
and many passers by who had been walking to the station
to make their way home.
April/May 2003 Candide, Leonard Bernstein. The
References
Chuckworks, an abandoned car parts factory, sadly now [1] Clements, Andrew (2003-04-10). "Guardian Review
demolished in Digbeth, Birmingham. of Candide". The Guardian (London).
March 2002 Fidelio, Beethoven. Performed in a big top http://arts.guardian.co.uk/reviews/story/
in Aston Park beside Aston Villa FC. The South Bank Show 0,11712,933441,00.html. Retrieved 2007-10-31.
made a documentary about the making of Fidelio and [2] Maddocks, Fiona (2001-02-25). "Guardian Review of
BBC4 broadcast the last performance live. Votzeck". The Guardian (London).
February- March 2001 Wozzeck, Berg. Performed in a http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/
semi-derelict warehouse on the edge of the Ladywood es- 0,,442519,00.html. Retrieved 2007-10-31.
tate in Birmingham. In the newly restored Aircraft Han- [3] Thicknesse, Robert (2005-05-02). "Times Online
gar No 2, Speke, Liverpool. Sports Centre, Sheffield. Review of Ulysses Comes Home". The Times
Freixo Electricity Sub Station, Porto, Portugal as part of (London). http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/
the Capital of Culture celebrations. tol/arts_and_entertainment/article387620.ece.
CBTO Retrieved 2007-10-31.
• 2000 Pelléas and Mélisande, Debussy [4] "Arts Central". http://www.artscentral.co.uk/
• 1999 The Two Widows, Smetana DisplayPage.asp?pageid=7636. Retrieved
• 1998 The Adventures of Vixen Sharp Ears, Janáček 2007-10-31.
• 1997 The Church Parables, Britten [5] "Past RPS Award Winners".
• 1997 Macbeth, Verdi http://www.rpsmusicawards.com/2007/winners/
• 1996 Falstaff, Verdi pastwinners?page=2007/winners/pastwinners/
• 1995 Les Boréades, Rameau pastaudiencedevelop.html. Retrieved 2007-10-31.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Birmingham_Opera_Company&oldid=459658703"
Categories:
• British opera companies
• Opera in the United Kingdom
• Culture in Birmingham, West Midlands
• Musical groups established in 1987
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