Currently celebrating its 70th birthday, Midland Opera is about to present a much-loved double-bill, Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, operas the company has presented both together and separately in the past.
The Italian emphasis is something different from the way Midland Opera began, as past chairman Malcolm Oakes tells me.
“When Arthur Street got us off the ground, as Midland Music Makers Grand Opera Society in 1946, this country was still highly indebted to the Russians, who had been our allies against Hitler during the Second World War.
“Because of that many of our early productions were of Russian operas: Borodin’s Prince Igor in 1946, Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Snow Maiden in 1947, Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov in 1952, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Ivan the Terrible in 1955.”
Though it was officially established in 1946, the society can trace its roots back to 1931, when the Gooch Street Choir, founded towards the end of the 19th century and based at the Friends Hall in Gooch Street (sadly demolished in the 1970s), was invited to provide some operatic excerpts to grace a weekend celebration. And so the society was born.
Its change of name has proved a wise move, Midland Opera sounding far more snappy, engaging, and indeed more inviting than its original cumbersome title. Recruitment is growing, says Malcolm.
“Thanks to one particular contact we are gaining new members from people who have performed with Graham Vick’s Birmingham Opera Company. So we have this young blood already coming from an experienced background.”
And other young blood comes from Birmingham Conservatoire. Several of the principals in Midland Opera’s forthcoming production of Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci are either current students or alumni of the institution, not least Sarah Helsby-Hughes.
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Conservatoire alumna Sarah is a soprano who also runs her own professional chamber opera company, Heritage Opera, and as their artistic director she has presided over 20 productions for them since 2008. “Cav and Pag” is her fifth production for Midland Opera, having previously directed Puccini’s Turandot in 2012, Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love in 2013, Mozart’s Magic Flute in 2014, and Rossini’s Thieving Magpie last year.
Sarah was happily rehearsing the forthcoming double-bill when the Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana had to pull out of the production for family reasons. So now Sarah is both director and star turn in the show, and it is she whom we will hear singing the famous and wonderful Easter Hymn.
Working alongside her is music director James Longstaffe, generously making time from his work at Presto Classics in Leamington to create a pared-down orchestration of the original lavish scores by Mascagni and Leoncavallo (this week’s piece of trivia: does anyone know that the latter composed a La Boheme, but one which concentrated on Marcello and Musetta instead of Puccini’s Rodolfo and Mimi?).
James will be conducting a 14-piece instrumental ensemble, and the several reductions of previous operas he has already made for Midland Opera should surely be manna to other cash-strapped societies who can no longer afford to engage full orchestras.
Money is the chief talker dominating artistic enterprise nowadays, and rental issues have forced Midland Opera to leave the Crescent Theatre, their performing home for several years, and just a step down Broad Street from their rehearsal base at The Square, near Five Ways in Edgbaston.
Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci will be staged at the Old Rep in Station Street, the latest in a list of venues graced by Midland Opera which includes the Large Theatre of the old Midland Institute in Paradise Street (what a loss that building was, as was the Birmingham Library right next door), Aston University’s Great Hall, Bournville Concert Hall and other locations for seasonal events.
Wherever they’re based, the members of Midland Opera exude huge enthusiasm for the work they do. After a difficult period in the early 2000s the Society has reinvented itself triumphantly, and continues to attract young, talented and enthusiastic performers.
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Val Matthews has seen it all, both as soloist and chorus member. “I’ve every confidence that the public will have a lovely evening, as the singers are so good,” she says.
“We’re loving it!”
* Midland Opera presents Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci at the Old Rep, Station Street Birmingham, from October 26 to 29 (7.30pm). Details on 0121 444 6842 or 0121 359 9444.