Stars of the future

Feb 22 2008 by Val Javin, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

IF YOU have a passion for opera then a concert in Dewsbury next month gives you a chance to hear the voices of the future.

Every year the National Opera Studio provides a master course for a small number of young and exceptionally talented singers, to prepare them for their professional careers in opera.

Those who have benefited from the work of the Studio include Lesley Garrett, Susan Bullock, Joan Rodgers, Gerald Finley and Alastair Miles.

The intensive, one-year course provides individual tuition at an international level and is designed to give the students’ additional skills in language, dramatic and interpretation.

In March the National Opera Studio will have a week-long residency at Opera North, culminating in a semi-staged concert at Dewsbury Town Hall at 7.30pm on Saturday, March 15.

This showcase concert offers a chance to hear the leading lights of the future accompanied by the Orchestra of Opera North in an attractive programme of operatic highlights.

The programme includes excerpts from Rossini’s William Tell, Bizet’s Carmen and The Pearl Fishers, Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, Donizetti’s Anna Bolena and La Fille du Régiment, Flotow’s Martha and Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel.

The concert will be conducted by Opera North favourite Tecwyn Evans (pictured).

Tickets are £12 or £4 if you are under 26. You can get them from Kirklees booking offices on 01484 223200.