Birmingham Opera Company have today announced their next bold mission, Wagner’s RhineGold, which will feature an international cast and local volunteer performers led by Artistic Director Graham Vick and newly appointed Music Director Alpesh Chauhan in August 2021.
Birmingham Opera Company have become well known for presenting work in their home city’s abandoned buildings, sometimes a factory, a nightclub, an ice rink, and this time the Rhine is canal-side in the 100,000 sq ft The Tubeworks on Icknield Port Loop.
Performed in a disused metalworks, audiences will get a unique Brummie take on the original myth of the forging of the golden ring. The audience will physically move with the action, experiencing the opera by being a part of it.
Birmingham Opera Company’s occupation of The Tubeworks, in partnership with Urban Splash, will launch a new life for the currently empty industrial site, which is to be transformed as part of a brand new 43-acre urban development.
The site, once a powerhouse of the country’s industrial revolution, will embed the production directly within the city’s past, highlight the present and look directly to the future.
The cast, announced today will include: Eric Greene (Wotan); Brenden Gunnell (Loge); Chrystal E Williams (Fricka); Francesca Chiejina (Freia); Amar Muchhala (Froh); Byron Jackson (Donner); Gweneth-Ann Rand (Erda); Ross Ramgobin (Alberich); Keel Watson (Fasolt); Andrew Slater (Fafner).
More details including on sale and production dates will be announced in due course.
On what is an ambitious journey to RhineGold and with many artists and companies struggling, the company are pleased to announce that the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation (UK) will lend their support to Birmingham Opera Company’s “Going for Gold” fundraising appeal by matching donations on the Fedora platform.
The Going for Gold Campaign is one of four nominees for the Fedora Education Prize 2020 (which also offers a further competitive prize worth Euro 50,000). The match appeal launches 5 October and ends 30 October 2020.
As part of the campaign, the company are to hold a number of online Q&A events with Artistic Director Graham Vick and Music Director Alpesh Chauhan. They also intend to launch their first donor syndicate on World Opera Day weekend (24th – 25th October) to support RhineGold.
Any potential supporters are encouraged to get in touch direct with Birmingham Opera Company.
