Opus Arte

Opera North currently presents The Queen of Spades, Tchaikovsky’s dark tale of obsession and greed. The tour opens on 4^th November in Nottingham and is then coming to Newcastle, Salford Quays and London’s Barbican – check here....

Ballet captures the public imagination in a way unlike other art forms. The analogy of the swan – furious activity belied by poise and insouciant beauty – is implicit to ballet, and is equally analogous of life. Perhaps this is why film makers and the movie going public are as fascinated with ballet as dance aficionados themselves.

The approach of Christmas brings tantalising imagery: twinkling lights, fluttering snow - and fairytale ballet and opera performances. For those of you without a ticket this season, we have a spectacular array of sumptuous fairytale performances to bring a little magic to your home.

Photo © Johann Persson

The Nutcracker has become one of the most revered ballets of all time. Tchaikovsky’s delightful score woven around ETA Hoffman’s magical fairytale is a firm family favourite and especially synonymous with Christmas time – filled, as it is, with glistening snowflakes and enchanted toys.

©Audrey and Patrick Scales, 2009

Sport and music go hand in the hand: the sense of anticipation before a big game starts is perfectly accompanied by a stirring number; an ‘80s movie training montage would be nothing without pumping synthetic beats alongside the Lycra, and who can say they don’t extract pleasure from watching our football players stumble over the words to the national anthem?

27 May 1822 – Birth of Joachim Raff. During his lifetime, Joseph Joachim Raff was one of the most famous German composers of the age, but today he is mostly forgotten. Raff was a friend and a colleague of Franz Liszt and was held in similar esteem to his contemporary. His work is said to have influenced that of Richard Strauss. Raff’s Lenore symphony was premiered in 1965 by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Bernard Herrmann, who compared the work in beauty and importance to pieces by Liszt and Tchaikovsky.

7 May 1849 – birth of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.  Tchaikovsky is one of the most well-known and well-loved composers to have ever lived. He composed the music for perennial favourites of the ballet cannon The Nutcracker, Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty. He also composed one of the most famous pieces of classical music, the 1812 Overture, which has been immortalised through its association with 4th July celebrations in the United States.

5 May 1891 – the official opening of Carnegie Hall, New York. The inaugural concert was conducted by maestro Walter Damrosch and featured the music of composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It was named after entrepreneur and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, who paid for its construction, and it was built to serve as the home for the New York Symphony Society and the Oratorio Society of New York. 

© Matchity (2005)

23 April 1858 – birth of English composer and suffragette Dame Ethel Smyth. Ethel wrote six operas as well as assorted choral and chamber music, having studied at the Conservatory in Leipzig and befriending contemporaries including DvoÅ™ák and Tchaikovsky. She composed ‘The March of the Women’, the anthem of the women’s suffrage movement, and served two months in Holloway prison for breaking windows at the command of Emily Pankhurst.

© National Portrait Gallery, London