NI Opera
[3] In the following months Oliver Mears was appointed artistic director by the board, and the new company officially launched its inaugural season of events in December 2010, collaborating with Barry Douglas and his Camerata Ireland orchestra in a Christmas concert at the Ulster Hall.
The company's first major production was Giacomo Puccini's Tosca, in three different historic spaces in Derry in March 2011, featuring Giselle Allen in the title role, with Jesús León as Cavaradossi and Paul Carey Jones as Scarpia.
A new production of Orpheus in the Underworld, in a new translation by Rory Bremner, and with Nicholas Sharratt in the title role, co-produced with Scottish Opera, toured Scotland and Northern Ireland in Autumn 2011 before travelling to the Young Vic Theatre in London in December 2011.
Other productions included the first Northern Irish staging of a Richard Wagner's opera, The Flying Dutchman in February 2013 as well as a touring version of William Walton's The Bear in March 2013.
This co-production with Wide Open Opera, directed and designed by Antony McDonald with the Crash Ensemble conducted by Pierre-André Valade, toured to Belfast, Dublin, Cork, and Derry.
[citation needed] In February 2014, the company co-produced a new version of Verdi's Macbeth with Welsh National Opera, directed by Oliver Mears, scheduled to be presented by WNO in its tour of Wales and England in autumn 2016.
[citation needed] In July 2014, the company's production of The Turn of the Screw travelled to Nevill Holt in Leicestershire, before being presented at Novaya Opera Theatre in Moscow in performances conducted by Jan Latham Koenig.
October 2015 saw the opening of a new production of Turandot at the Grand Opera House, Belfast, directed by Calixto Bieito, a co-production with Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse and Staatstheater Nürnberg.
The scandalous life of the late Margaret, Duchess of Argyll was headlined by Mary Plazas in the lead role, with a multi-roling supporting cast of Adrian Dwyer, Stephen Richardson, Daire Halpin.
Mimì and Rodolfo were sung by Giselle Allen and Jeffrey Hartman respectively, with a supporting cast including Brendan Collins, Gabrielle Mulcahy and BBC NI Young Musician platform awardee Aaron O'Hare.
The production toured to the Millennium Forum, Derry, and was later re-produced with the original cast by Nevill Holt Opera in July 2018, with Nicholas Chalmers conducting the Royal Northern Sinfonia.
[15] January and February 2018 saw newly appointed artistic director Walter Sutcliffe's directing debut with the company, a revival of his production of Brecht/Weill's The Threepenny Opera at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast.
The cast featured Verdi Baritone Sebastian Catana in his UK debut, as well as Cardiff Singer of the World Nadine Koutcher as Gilda, and David Giusti as Duke of Mantua.
Like previous collaborations with The Lyric, this production featured both Musical Theatre and Opera performers, among whom Steven Page in the lead role of Sweeney received notable critical acclaim.
[17][18] Sinead Hayes conducted an "insinuating single-instrument band" while Wolfgang Goebbel's "hell lighting" and Dorota Karolczak's costume and set design "spiraled into madness" resulting in favorable reviews for Walter Sutcliffe's "compelling" staging.
Set and costume designer Jon Bausor, and choreographer Jennifer Rooney also received favourable reviews for their respective roles[25][26] In 2011 Northern Ireland Opera launched its inaugural Festival of Voice at Glenarm, County Antrim, which features public recitals and events in partnership with and broadcast by BBC Radio 3.
