As Mid Wales Opera completes its hugely successful SmallStages tour of Berlioz’s ‘Beatrice and Benedict’, the company’s chair has appealed for donations to ensure the company can continue its work until the end of 2024.
Chair of the Board, Gareth Williams said:
‘Audiences across Wales and the Marches from Abergavenny to Holyhead and from Fishguard to Mold have expressed delight with MWO’s witty and joyful ‘Beatrice and Benedict’, which closed with a captivating performance in Ludlow’s Assembly Rooms on Saturday night. They have echoed the view of The Guardian’s Rian Evans that ‘Such a slick staging, with artistic values paramount, is delightful and it could not underline more emphatically the sheer incomprehensibility of the Arts Council of Wales’s recent decision to cut this company’s funding completely.’
Our thoughts are now turning to the future, with the first night of our much-anticipated new production of Verdi’s Macbeth, in a new orchestral version by our Music Director, Jonathan Lyness, on 2 March rapidly approaching.
Unfortunately, beyond that, our future remains very uncertain.
Our appeal against the Arts Council Wales’ decision to end our funding from April 2024 has been dismissed, despite an admission that their appraisal seriously misrepresented the way in which we pay our artists, and copious evidence of the enormous gap which the decision will leave both for audiences and for the career development of Welsh singers and musicians.
Nevertheless, we sincerely hope that we will be able to undertake a new SmallStages tour next autumn, as well as a schools’ residency in the early summer. While our accumulated reserves – together with the generosity of ‘Beatrice and Benedict’ audiences who donated more than £3000 – should take us most of the way towards this, additional financial support from our friends and well-wishers needed to ensure we can do so.
Anyone wishing to support the work of Mid Wales Opera can donate online by going to cafdonate.cafonline.org/16112#!/DonationDetails or by cheque to Mid Wales Opera, Bryn Wgan, Caersws, SY17 5QU’.
The forthcoming Macbeth MainStages tour dates are as follows:
Sat 2 March – Theatr Hafren, Newtown
Thu 7 March – Aberystwyth Arts Centre
Sat 9 March – Pontio, Bangor
Tue 12 March – William Aston Hall, Wrexham with Theatr Clwyd
Thu 14 March – Riverfront, Newport
Sat 16 March – Courtyard, Hereford
Tue 19 March – Ffwrnes, Llanelli
Thu 21 March – Torch Theatre, Milford Haven
Sat 23 March – Theatr Brycheiniog, Brecon
Further information and booking details can be found on the Mid Wales Opera website.
Notes:
Enquiries: marketing@midwalesopera.co.uk
Creative Team:
Director and Designer: Richard Studer
Music Director: Jonathan Lyness
About Mid Wales Opera:
Mid Wales Opera’s journey began with the collaborative efforts of Keith Darlington, then Head of Birmingham Conservatoire Vocal and Operatic School, and Vocal coach Barbara McGuire. The company’s inaugural performance resulted from two weeks of coaching involving Mid Wales-based singers and Conservatoire students. Today, supporting young vocalists remains central to the company’s mission, with half of the cast typically composed of singers under 30 or within four years of their training. Since its inception, Mid Wales Opera has been rooted at Hafren in Newtown. From the first full-scale performance of The Magic Flute in 1989 to the present day, shows have consistently premiered at Hafren, which continues to serve as the company’s artistic home. Arts Council Wales has been a steadfast supporter since the company’s inception, enabling its growth and development.
