OperaUpClose: The Flying Dutchman

OperaUpClose (★★★★ “Compelling, striking music theatre of considerable integrity and force” The Guardian), in partnership with Manchester Camerata (‘Britain’s most adventurous orchestra’, The Times), present Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman.

Newly re-imagined for our times, poet and novelist Glyn Maxwell’s English libretto with award-winning Laura Bowler’s 8-piece chamber orchestration, depicts an island nation struggling with its identity in a world of displaced people. This production features recordings of community choirs from across the UK alongside a cast of internationally renowned opera singers and players.

OperaUpClose is an ambitious, collaborative touring opera company with an on-going mission to improve the availability, relevance and reach of the art form. They distil the essence of classic operas into new, contemporary, English language works with their own artistic integrity and excellence. They create new commissions alongside bold interpretations of established material, touring innovatively staged, affordable productions to theatres, as well as less traditional performance spaces, across the country. They are the only resident opera company in the South-West, based at the dynamic cultural hub MAST, Southampton, making opera a central part of a diverse theatrical landscape for the UK.

Manchester Camerata is a registered charity working and performing in Manchester and worldwide since 1972. Be it opening Glastonbury festival in front of 40,000 people or working intimately in care homes with people living with dementia, they believe in the transformative and connecting nature of music. To achieve their artistic excellence and forward-thinking ethos, collaboration is at the heart of everything they do. Led by their visionary Music Director, Gábor Takács-Nagy, they collaborate with diverse international artists, from New Order to Martha Argerich to Aziz Ibrahim to Lewis Capaldi.

Check out the digital programme here.