Inventive Director Cameron Menzies and baritone Yuriy Yurchuk speak about Northern Eire Opera – Seen and Heard Worldwide

Robert Beattie in dialog with Cameron Menzies, Inventive Director of Northern Eire Opera, and baritone Yuriy Yurchuk

I’ve been reviewing Northern Eire Opera’s productions for some years (hyperlinks to a few of my opinions will be discovered right here). I’ve been struck each by the very prime quality and infinite number of their productions. They’ve produced a string of extra typical operatic productions, together with La bohème, La traviata and Tosca which have obtained glowing opinions from the Press. Opera Journal commented: ‘Northern Eire Opera’s La traviata means that the inventive director Cameron Menzies has in the end realised the area’s ambition to have a grand opera firm actually deserving of the title.’

As well as, they’ve additionally produced a number of profitable Broadway musicals together with Sweeney Todd, Kiss me, Kate and Into the Woods.  The Occasions commented on the latter: ‘Cameron Menzies’s manufacturing storms together with such irresistible zest and uNFLagging power that it deserves packed homes all through its run’. Extra just lately, they’ve moved into the sphere of chamber opera and produced a smaller scale manufacturing of The Juniper Tree by Philip Glass and Robert Moran. The Stage commented: ‘Seems nearly as good because it sounds’.

Northern Eire Opera have produced an interesting and once more extremely profitable ‘Salon Collection’ that includes opera, artwork tune, cabaret and music theatre. These performances have taken place throughout completely different venues throughout Northern Eire together with the opulent rooms of Hillsborough Fortress and the gloomy lobby of Crumlin Street Jail. Yearly they run the ‘Glenarm Pageant of Voice’ within the historic coastal village of Glenarm. Now in its thirteenth yr, this occasion brings collectively BBC Radio 3 recitals, outreach occasions, performances by rising artists and culminates within the ComPetitors Finale. In the course of the summer time they run a tune recital collection in partnership with First Church in Belfast.

I spoke to the Inventive Director of Northern Eire Opera, Cameron Menzies, and to baritone Yuriy Yurchuk about previous and future productions. I spoke to Cameron concerning the challenges concerned with taking over the position of Inventive Director in the course of the Covid pandemic and the corporate’s successes throughout this era. I additionally requested him concerning the forthcoming manufacturing of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and different work strands the corporate are taking ahead. I requested Yuriy how he approaches the position of Onegin and the challenges of this position. Yuriy is a British-Ukrainian citizen and he has made plenty of statements concerning the present coNFLict between Russia and Ukraine. I spoke to him concerning the affect which this battle is having on the world of classical music and for his views on this.

Robert Beattie: Cameron, you assumed your position of Inventive Director of Northern Eire Opera throughout the Covid lockdown interval. How did you negotiate the challenges related to this era?

Cameron Menzies: I used to be appointed in October 2020 which I used to be nonetheless dwelling in Australia. With all of the restrictions I used to be not in a position to journey to Northern Eire till March 2021 which was at that time utterly shut down due to Covid. We weren’t in a position to do reside performances, however we had been in a position to movie so I shot a 40-minute movie known as ‘Previous Mates and Different Days’ which featured the music of William Vincent Wallace and one among his contemporaries, William Balfe, which received a collection of awards all over the world together with in London, Paris and Madrid.

I took over the corporate at a time when there was no programming in place as a result of the whole lot had been cancelled. Usually, while you take over an organization there’s a grace interval of 12-18 months when you’ll be able to comply with another person’s programming and watch and see how issues are performed. The fantastic thing about that problem was that we may do what we wished and tailor it to assets out there to us. I couldn’t get venues to open due to Covid however we had been in a position to do a gap manufacturing of Puccini’s La bohème in a ravishing, dilapidated previous church in North Belfast known as the Carlisle Memorial Church. This allowed me to succeed in out to a number of performers who had been out there as a result of restrictions positioned on them on account of Covid. Yuriy was one of many folks out there and he sang Marcello for us in that manufacturing. So, whereas this era was difficult, it additionally offered alternatives; we had been solely in a position to get Yuriy at brief discover on account of the restrictions imposed by Covid. It allowed us to get some amazingly gifted folks into that manufacturing. We had been solely in a position to play to 100 folks an evening within the church. However we efficiently raised the stage and sank an orchestral pit within the venue. There have been about 35 instrumentalists within the pit, all of whom had been freelancers from throughout Northern Eire.  Covid additionally offered alternatives as there have been no guidelines round how finest to come back out of it. So, the scenario supplied us with the liberty to check out completely different new issues.

RB: Northern Eire Opera has plenty of completely different work strands which it’s taking ahead in the intervening time. You might have the primary productions and the subsequent one developing in September is Eugene Onegin. You even have smaller scale productions, and in addition your extremely profitable Salon Collection in addition to a summer time tune recital collection and the Glenarm Pageant of Voice. Are you able to inform us concerning the completely different work strands you take ahead?

CM: We clearly do grand opera within the Grand Opera Home yearly, however we additionally current opera on a lot of completely different platforms throughout the 12-month interval of programming. The Salon Collection was one thing that I pitched once I was recruited as one thing that I wish to strive. The primary collection consisted of six 50–60-minute concert events. They consisted of the whole lot from French opera to chanson, Irish songs, theatre music and cabaret as a little bit of a tasting plate throughout varied musical genres to reveal audiences to various things in addition to works they might already know and love. It additionally allowed us to tour round Northern Eire with a collection of diversified music. The collection has been an enormous success and really effectively obtained by audiences throughout Northern Eire. We began a second collection on the 22 June within the Palace Demesne in Armagh with ‘The Stars, the Moon and the Georgian Sky’. This live performance featured works by Gilbert and Sullivan, Handel, Poulenc, Verdi and Humperdinck celebrating the heavens. Now we have a programme of summer time concert events on the Foyle Maritime Museum in Londonderry/Derry and the Flowerfield Arts Centre in Portstewart.

Earlier this yr we produced two smaller scale productions: a pastiche to have fun Valentines’ Day, ‘Cupid’s Bow’, and a Philip Glass/Robert Moran opera known as The Juniper Tree which was based mostly on one among Grimm’s fairy tales. These had been each very profitable as effectively. Each these productions performed within the smaller Studio of the Grand Opera Home and this gave us a possibility to do some chamber work. We do attempt to present opera in all completely different platforms and in any respect completely different entry factors.

RB: Your subsequent huge manufacturing is Eugene Onegin. What do you see as the important thing challenges of staging this work?

CM: All nice operatic works have their challenges. I’ve beloved Eugene Onegin for a really very long time; it’s such a beautiful piece. Musically, it is without doubt one of the most satisfying items of opera ever written and it has a number of the most transferring music. It presents as a bit that matches Belfast and Northern Eire very effectively in 2024. After I was enthusiastic about singers that might carry out for this manufacturing, I concluded there have been very robust native feminine singers we may forged. The 4 feminine leads are all from Northern Eire or from the north of Eire. Mary McCabe, Sarah Richmond, Carolyn Dobbin and Jenny Bourke have been forged in these lead roles. I believe that may be a enormous achievement for the corporate to forged these roles regionally. Mary is making her major stage debut in her hometown. It additionally allowed Yuriy and I a possibility to convey a undertaking to fruition which we mentioned in 2021 after we had been doing La bohème. After I was pondering of casting the male roles, Yuriy was the individual in my head to carry out the position of Onegin.

Onegin works thematically for Northern Eire and it additionally works thematically for the world. At a frivolous flip throughout the piece, two finest mates set themselves on a tragic path they can not come again from. Onegin kills his finest buddy Lensky and arguably metaphorically dies as effectively. The superbly constructed duel which occurs in that opera has common affect. For me making an attempt to seize that sense of two sides who received’t again down or attempt to discover a manner out of that battle is a sound subject to be placing on an operatic stage or certainly any stage in the intervening time.

Now we have beforehand performed La bohème, La traviata and Tosca; Onegin gives a possibility to step exterior of this Italian repertoire. It’s already proving highly regarded and tickets are promoting very effectively. The music may be very accessible and exquisite. If folks love The Nutcracker and Swan Lake, they’ll completely fall in love with this as effectively. Whereas each opera has its challenges, we attempt to meet them head on. With the forged and the workforce now we have bought it’s already proving to be an incredible expertise.

RB: I generally assume with Onegin you’ve got the primary two acts that are longer acts and you’ve got the fantastic Letter Scene within the second act with Tatiana. After which you’ve got the final two acts that are a lot shorter. In some methods it may be seen as slightly bit unbalanced as an opera. Yuriy, do you’ve got a view on that?

Yuriy Yurchuk: I believe it’s a aware selection by Tchaikovsky. Generally with motion pictures, books or in theatre there may be quite a lot of motion however by the top of the work it has not made an affect and also you don’t care what occurs to the characters. This will occur as a result of the exposition to the work doesn’t correctly introduce the characters to the viewers. On this work you care about Lensky as you see him within the prime of youth and enthusiastic about love and his future life. We find yourself rooting for the characters whether or not it’s Lensky, Onegin or Tatiana. Tchaikovsky may be very calculated and sensible on this work in permitting us sufficient time to get to know the characters and floor ourselves within the story. The ending may be very quick paced however he takes his time organising the scene and permitting us to get to know the characters.

RB: I agree. The characters are superbly fashioned and he’s utilizing Pushkin’s fantastic poetry to assist flesh out the characters. How do you strategy the character of Onegin? He’s generally seen as very boastful however there are additionally extra nuanced features to the character.

YY: Some folks say the opera ought to be known as ‘Tatiana’ as she is the primary character, and we see her journey by means of the opera from a younger, inexperienced lady to the mature, subtle younger lady we see on the finish of the opera. Once you play Onegin you can’t consider your self as a nasty man. Once you stand on stage it is advisable to have your personal causes to justify your actions and what you say. His refusal to take up Tatiana’s preliminary declaration of affection to him is commonly seen as boastful however I don’t assume that’s the case. His major folly is his lack of ethical compass but additionally his youth and inexperience. His major crime is killing his buddy, it’s not turning away Tatiana.

Onegin’s smaller crime takes place on the finish of the opera when he declares like to Tatiana regardless of the truth that she is married. It was after all unimaginable at the moment for a married lady to elope with one other man with out destroying her title and character. Onegin is extra mature concerning the methods of the world and the court docket than his buddy Lensky. Regardless of this he doesn’t take the required motion to resolve the battle with out killing his buddy. This is without doubt one of the issues which makes this opera so related to fashionable audiences. It exhibits how occasions can escalate within the blink of an eye fixed to an irreversible tragic end result. It’s necessary for the viewers to reside by means of the occasions of the opera. In future conflicts to come back it would remind folks of the necessity to step again and take inventory earlier than permitting a battle to escalate additional.

RB: You might have taken on main roles in plenty of Italian operas previously together with Marcello in La bohème and in addition in Un ballo in maschera and Andrea Chénier. How is the position of Onegin completely different to earlier roles?

YY: Onegin is in Russian and that is my native language and what I grew up talking. Tchaikovsky is commonly known as the grasp of melody and also you come out whistling a number of the tunes from the opera. The journey of Onegin can also be fairly attention-grabbing to discover. Onegin shares the title position with Tatiana and it’s attention-grabbing to have a look at how this relationship develops. It’s a very completely different opera to Andrea Chénier, which is a extra heroic work. We have to do not forget that Onegin is simply 18 throughout the time interval of this work however he feels he has seen the whole lot and performed the whole lot. You may see his preliminary rejection of Tatiana as an try to save lots of this inexperienced younger lady from making a idiot of herself. The outcomes are devastating for her as she has invested a lot on this one man and is constructing a citadel within the air which Onegin then tears down.

RB: What are the vocal challenges of singing Onegin?

YY: There are challenges within the final scene the place Tchaikovsky makes use of a moderately thick orchestration. Onegin has been unable to recover from the lack of his buddy and he sees Tatiana as his one hope of salvation. Dramatically, you need Onegin to look into Tatiana’s eyes. Nonetheless, you can’t do that as it’s important to undertaking over massive orchestral forces, so it is advisable to face the viewers straight. Tchaikovsky was a grasp of vocal writing and his rating provides all of the performers a possibility to shine. You may her the quantity of labor he has put into the rating in each phrase and set piece quantity.

RB: I generally want opera homes would carry out extra Tchaikovsky operas within the West. Apart from Onegin and The Queen of Spades the opposite operas are hardly ever carried out. In Russia and Jap Europe the opposite operas are carried out far more continuously.

CM: Iolanta is an incredible work however it’s most likely tougher to promote exterior of Jap Europe.

YY: We carried out Iolanta within the Royal Albert Corridor within the Spring beneath the baton of Vasily Petrenko. It’s a nice piece.

RB: Yuriy, I do know that as a British-Ukranian you’ve got expressed views on the current battle between Russia and Ukraine. Within the classical music world some Russian singers have been banned from performances and Russian rivals have been barred from competitions on account of the battle. Within the current Queen Elizabeth Competitors, the profitable violinist refused to shake fingers with a Russian decide. What view do you are taking of those points?

YY: In some methods this can be a advanced problem however for my part it’s also a easy one. The present Russian invasion of Ukraine is illegitimate, immoral and felony. Each individual within the civilised world is making an attempt to assist cease it or to help these most affected by it. Northern Eire Opera has performed some work to attempt to elevate donations for Ukraine. I’m towards discrimination based mostly on somebody’s private traits whether or not that’s race, gender or sexuality. I communicate Russian myself and my girlfriend is Russian. Nonetheless, discrimination based mostly on what an individual says or does is a distinct matter. I do know quite a lot of Russian and Ukrainian artists who don’t condemn the invasion and carry out for Putin. Permitting these folks to carry out within the West and to learn from the Western public appears fallacious to me. I additionally know quite a lot of Russian artists who reside within the West and who actively help Ukraine. Equally, there are individuals who reside in Russia who’re against the conflict and the present authorities though protest is turning into more and more tough in Russia. If Russian artists are against the conflict then it doesn’t appear proper to discriminate towards them.

There are some attention-grabbing methods wherein Ukrainian tradition affected Tchaikovsky and his music. Within the nineteenth and twentieth centuries there was an effort to assimilate Ukraine into the bigger Russian empire and to disclaim the nation its identification and proper self-determination. Tchaikovsky’s household had been from Ukraine and he spent quite a lot of time within the nation. His opera Mazeppa contains a Ukrainian hero. His music in some ways is influenced by each Russia and Ukraine and is a shared heritage for each nations. Tchaikovsky was an brazenly homosexual composer however many homosexual folks in Russia face widespread discrimination these days. Tchaikovsky exhibits in Eugene Onegin how battle and violence can emerge out of nowhere. It’s necessary to reveal younger folks to the concepts within the opera and to point out them the broader hurt which violence could cause. If extra younger persons are uncovered to the concepts on this and different operas, maybe they will help affect them to make higher decisions in future.

Most of my efforts within the final couple of years have been to convey as a lot consideration to the conflict as potential. Because the conflict drags on, it’s not being reported so prominently within the information. It’s necessary to remind folks all over the world of the continuing violence within the conflict and the way it’s impacting on the lives of unusual Ukrainians. I consider we must always do the whole lot we will to help the folks of Ukraine and to lift funds to assist them.

RB: Folks generally don’t realise that Prokofiev is a Ukrainian composer. He was born in a metropolis situated in modern-day Ukraine regardless that he’s usually seen as Russian. There’s after all an amazing custom of Russian musicians defying the official authorities coverage. Rostropovich, for instance, made his emotions very clear concerning the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia when he was performing the Dvořák Cello Concerto on the BBC Proms when he held up the rating on the finish of the efficiency. So, there’s a position for Russian musicians to publicise their views about what is going on in Ukraine though I think about it’s more and more tough for folks dwelling in Russia to try this. Cameron, what are your future plans for Northern Eire Opera?

CM: Our main precedence is staging Eugene Onegin in September. I’m additionally making an attempt to construct the corporate and to develop a brand new programme. We additionally must safe extra authorities funding – now we have been on standstill funding since 2013 – as a way to assist us develop a brand new, formidable and inventive programme. We’re seeking to carry out a chamber piece once more at the beginning of the yr and we’ll proceed to tour round Northern Eire with smaller items which lend themselves to being extra cell.

RB: Are there any explicit items which you wish to stage?

CM: The Philip Glass opera, The Juniper Tree labored very effectively and was effectively obtained by the viewers. I’m keen on exploring comparable repertoire, maybe by Bernstein, though I haven’t come to any agency views on this.

RB: I really like Philip Glass operas and I’m all the time happy when corporations stage them.

CM: The Fall of the Home of Usher is one among my favorite Glass operas.

RB: Yuriy, which future roles are you planning to tackle?

CM: In every week’s time I’m beginning work on Mozart’s Don Giovanni in Finland. I’ve been forged within the title position and am wanting ahead to engaged on it. After that I shall be engaged on Verdi’s Don Carlos in France after which I shall be working with Cameron on Onegin. I actually loved my expertise of working with Cameron and his artistic workforce on La bohème so it’s good to come back again and discover new repertoire with them.

RB: Don Giovanni is one among my favorite operas and there have been so many superb performances of the title position.

YY: I used to be lucky to have the ability to spend a while working with Thomas Allen on the position. He’s superb by way of the insights he brings to the piece and the character. One factor which hyperlinks Don Giovanni and Onegin is that each the primary characters are unsuccessful in love. Don Giovanni doesn’t handle to seduce any of the ladies within the opera and Onegin can also be unable to forge a relationship with Tatiana.

RB: In that sense, they each get their simply deserts. Cameron and Yuriy, thanks very a lot for speaking to us.

Robert Beattie