Opera showcase

Oct 31 2008 by Michael Green, Chester Chronicle

THE ever popular Opera North company return to The Lowry in Salford Quays next week with three contrasting productions.

The Italian conductor Andrea Licata makes his Opera North debut conducting Christopher Alden’s powerful staging of Tosca on November 4 and 7, which pulled no punches and stripped back the story to its essentials, focusing on the central theme of the destructive combination of desire and power.

Opera North’s Shakespeare year concludes with Bellini’s bel canto opera I Capuleti e i Montecchi on November 5 and 8 – the powerful story of the struggle between the purity of love and the brutality of war.

To coincide with the American presidential election this November, Opera North is presenting Gershwin’s Of Thee I Sing – one of the Gershwin brothers’ most successful Broadway musicals whose libretto was the first, for a musical, to win a Pulitzer Prize.

Of Thee I Sing, which can be seen on November 6, is a gentle satire of the US political process.

For booking information ring 0870 787 5793 or visit www.thelowry.com.