As we hurtle towards 2021, I realise that it’s been eight months since I last saw a live opera and who knows when I will see one again. The serial incompetence of Boris and the clowns means that it will be well into next year...
Read MoreThis week sees a landmark in my long walk on this weird and mostly wonderful world, although weird has the upper hand at the moment. I am about to receive my first pension cheque, most of which I have already spent. I mention...
Read MoreIt’s been a quiet old time here at OperaWatch HQ. The furniture is dust-covered, the trainee opera critics have all been furloughed and I sit here like Miss Havisham dripping in cobwebs and waiting for news, any news. My inbox...
Read MoreFor OperaWatch, it’s a welcome return to The Lowry for Opera North’s 2020 spring season. With all the opera critic trainees on lockdown it was up to me to cover for them while the government dithers as to what to do. Armed only...
Read MoreOn the eve of the EU referendum in 2016, Richard Mantle, the general director of Opera North, warned of the detrimental effect a no vote would have on the “enormous talent pool which is Europe”. So far, there has been no...
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