Epic, acclaimed and groundbreaking opera now online
irmingham Opera Company will be sharing some of its groundbreaking and acclaimed work online this month.
The organisation, renowned for its radical, bold and immersive productions that put the audience at the very heart of the action, is making available its 2015 production of Tippett’s The Ice Break on OperaVision and its 2009 production of Verdi’s Otello on BBC iPlayer.
The Ice Break takes place in a warehouse in Digbeth, Birmingham, performed by professional musicians and singers alongside a huge volunteer cast of hundreds from right across the local area. The production attracted more than 5,000 people, 98 per cent of whom had never seen the company’s work before, and many who had never heard of it.
The original story opens in an airport where Lev is reunited with his wife Nadia and son Yuri who have emigrated and wait for his return.
Yuri’s girlfriend also waits in the airport for a famous
Bathlete who she is in awe of. Jealous Yuri attacks the athlete causing events to spiral out of control and sparking racist attacks, violence and acts of brutality across the city.
The Ice Break can be seen now at operavision.eu/en and is available until the end of July.
And Birmingham Opera Company’s groundbreaking immersive promenade production of Verdi’s Otello from 2009 is now available on iPlayer.
The production, when it premiered over a decade ago with Ronald Samm as Otello, was the first ever in the UK with a black singer in the role of Othello alongside black singer Keel Watson playing the white racist, Iago, another first in the UK.
Visit www.birminghamopera.org.uk for more information about the company and its work.