Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra, Opera North’s latest opera staged for concert halls, opens in Bradford in April before touring across the north of England. It is, argues director PJ Harris and conductor Antony Hermus, a thrilling masterpiece for our times.
PJ starts by explaining why the story feels particularly relevant in today’s troubled world:
“The opera takes place in a very divided society between the patricians on one side and the plebeians on the other. You also have relationships and families and loved ones who have been torn apart by that conflict. A lot of the opera sees people searching for peace amidst that division and the story of the opera forces the characters to make a choice. When push comes to shove, do they choose the people they love and the relationships they’ve built – or do they choose the cause, which they’ve spent their life fighting for and believing in?”
As the protagonists battle with the personal and political, Verdi deftly depicts their emotional landscape through the music, using the massed voices of the chorus and the power of the orchestra to turn everything up to the max when the action is at its most intense. Antony comments:
“This piece is very special. The orchestra is a very powerful source for all the emotions, but we also have a very strong cast and you feel with them every inner conflict. Every silence means something; every tempo means something. The music is just magic. There are lots of brooding mysterious moments, lots of beautiful moments, lots of emotions that you hear in the music. I think it’s Verdi’s most atmospheric writing. It’s a piece that goes immediately straight into the heart.”
With an orchestra of 70 musicians on the stage and over 50 voices with the full Chorus of Opera North in addition to the principal cast members, it is going to sound incredible – and loud! Yet, argues Antony, it will also feel very intimate:
“You will be very close as an audience to the drama on stage. That’s the great thing about concert stagings: you will see the singers very, very close to you. Without any distractions, you will feel the raw emotion of the drama. We’ll also be making use of the auditoriums. So let yourself be surprised!”
Vazgen Gazaryan as Jacopo Fiesco in rehearsal for Simon Boccanegra
The choice of venues has also helped inform the set. “Our production of Simon Boccanegra is much more than a traditional concert performance,” continues PJ. “We have a set designed by Anna Reid which sits in front of the orchestra and is very much inspired by the kinds of civic spaces that we’re touring to. The singers will also be in costume, which I think will help audiences lose themselves in the story and in the production.
“I think what’s really special about the Opera North concert stagings is that you have that immediacy you get in a concert hall where there isn’t a big gulf of an orchestra pit – you’re right there with the singers right in front of you – but you also get all that intense theatrical production and storytelling.”
If people are still uncertain about whether to buy a ticket, PJ urges them to take the plunge:
“This opera has everything! You’ve got betrayal, abduction, marriages, corruption and some of the best music in the whole of opera. It’s totally powerful and so visceral.”
Opera North’s concert staging of Simon Boccanegra opens at St George’s Hall in Bradford on Thursday 24 April 2025. The production subsequently tours to the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham, The Glasshouse in Gateshead, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Hull City Hall and Southbank Centre in London.
