Opera Seria aims to make opera accessible to the wider community, while giving young talented artists a chance to expand their experience as they emerge into the professional operatic world. We work with talented local directors and producers, together with a chorus of community members from all walks of life. We offer our soloists the chance to work with seasoned professionals to help them develop their craft - both through master classes with professional singers or conductors, and in some cases through casting alongside local seasoned professionals.
Not "just another opera company".
We're frequently asked what sets us apart from other opera groups in the North West. First and foremost, we offer community people the chance to get involved without paying a membership fee. Most small groups ask for an annual fee from their chorus members to offset their costs. This is important to running a small company; however we've opted to forego this route to funding. Instead, we rely solely on ticket sales, grants and sponsorship to fund our activities. This might seem odd in a time when arts organisations are increasingly expensive to run, and funding harder than ever to come by, but we did not want to alienate anyone from participating. Whether you're a music student, lawyer or stay-at-home mum (or anyone else!), you can get involved without spending a penny!
We welcome talented aspiring operatic soloists from all backgrounds - whether you are a current music student, a recent graduate or someone who has all the talent but may not have been able to take the traditional route to an operatic career for whatever reason. As musicians ourselves, we know how hard it is to break into the world of opera, and want to be there to help talented singers gain the experience they need to get ahead. We hope to be another springboard to help talented young singers gain the experience they need to cross the bridge from training and semi-professional work into a professional career.
We believe that opera should be for everyone, regardless of what language it's performed in. We sing the majority of our operas in their original language. The concept of going to see something in a foreign language frightens many would-be opera goers, but we hope that we can make our operas creative and engaging (along with the addition of English surtitles!!), allowing the public to experience these operas as they were penned by the composers. The general trend in small opera companies is to sing in English, however because Opera Seria has opted to perform in the original language in the majority of cases, allowing our soloists the chance to "sing in" the roles with us in the original text before taking them out into the wider professional world.
We aim to put on two main productions a year: one fully staged production with orchestra and chorus, and one touring production with a reduced ensemble, as well as a number of gala concerts and concert operas. Come see what we're about at one of our upcoming producions.