Coronavirus (COVID-19) update

The latest news about how the Coronavirus will affect Opera North’s activity and audiences, updated at 10.00am on Friday 20 March.

In response to the rapidly changing situation we have been working with our partners in touring venues and concert halls to assess which of our forthcoming performances and activity have been affected. Our immediate priority is the health and safety of our audiences, artists and staff and so regrettably we have made the decision to cancel or postpone all public facing activity until the end of April.

We have also confirmed the postponement of our co-production of A Little Night Music, with Leeds Playhouse, which was due to begin rehearsing this Monday, and to open on 9 May.

Together with our partner venues we are now in the process of contacting audiences and participants to arrange a ticket transfer or refund. A full list of affected events can be found below.

This is undoubtedly a time of great challenge for Opera North and our peers but we are determined to respond with creativity and resilience. We will honour the contracts of all guest artists to the end of our current main stage opera season and those of guest orchestral players until the end of April. We are working with our many education and community partners to ascertain what work can still be delivered in those settings, and will focus our creativity and core resources on finding new ways of using music and opera to enhance people’s lives. In these uncertain times it feels more important than ever that we use music to connect with each other. We are proud to play an active role in our communities, working with audiences of all ages from primary students in schools through to over 55s in participatory singing groups. Where we can we will strive to find new ways to share the joy of music and are delighted that viewers can still experience some of our productions and performances that available to watch online.

We will no doubt face a number of challenges as we go forward and we wish to thank our audiences and supporters for their continued and much valued support. We are focused on returning with a full main stage season of opera in September 2020 and we hope that audiences will be able to help us over the coming weeks and months by continuing to book their tickets for the 2020/21 season of incredible opera we have planned, or by becoming a Friend of Opera North.

More than ever we will all need our friends to navigate the coming weeks and months.

We will continue to update as events develop, but in the meantime we hope you will all stay safe and look forward to welcoming audiences to an Opera North performance again soon.

Richard Mantle
General Director

We look forward to taking your booking for the new 2020-21 season.

How to book
Online booking is available 24 hours and our Box Office can be contacted by phone or by email Mon – Fri (excluding Bank holidays), 10am – 6pm on 0113 2233600 or boxoffice@operanorth.co.uk.

Tickets by post
Tickets will not be posted out until further notice. Tickets are sent via 2nd class post with a delivery fee of £1, and will arrive at least a week before your chosen performance.

Ticket collection from the Box Office
Your tickets will be held with the Box Office until further notice.

COVID-19 refund policy
Thank you for supporting us by booking tickets. If it is not possible for a performance to go ahead, bookers will be offered a full refund and options to credit your account for a future purchase or to make a donation. If you are instructed to self-isolate over the period of a booked performance, tickets can be exchanged to a future performance. Alternatively we will credit your account for a future purchase – credit can be used within six months. If these options are not possible, we will refund your tickets.

New Direct Debit mandates for Season Tickets or memberships
Direct debit notifications will not be posted out until further notice. For customers sending new Direct Debit mandates who have not yet received a notification letter, you will be contacted by phone or email with your payment details once we’ve processed your mandate. You will then receive your notification communication at least 10 days before your first payment. We will be in touch with you to ensure you have all the information you need.

A Little Night Music

We regret to announce that, due to the on-going COVID-19 crisis, our co-production of A Little Night Music with the Leeds Playhouse has had to be postponed. Our immediate priority is the health and safety of our audiences, artists and staff and though we hope to be able to mount the production in a future season at this point, we cannot confirm when this will be.

All ticket holders are being contacted by email with refund options, including the opportunity to turn some or all of their refund into a donation. This is a time of great challenge for Opera North but we are determined to respond with creativity and resilience. Thank you to everyone for their support.

Opera performances in Nottingham

Following official government advice issued on Monday 16 March, stipulating that people should avoid public buildings including theatres to help slow the spread of coronavirus, the Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham will be closed until further notice.

Ticket holders for the Opera North performances will be contacted directly by the box office team at the Theatre Royal and offered the chance to exchange tickets for a future Opera North season or a full refund.  Ticket holders will not need to contact the venues directly.  Due to the number of performances affected at the theatre it may take some time to contact all bookers, so we ask our audience to bear with us at this busy time and thank them for their patience and understanding.

Concerts

The following Opera North concerts have now been cancelled; ticket holders will be contacted by the relevant box office.

Lunchtime concert: Violin and Piano – Wed 18 March, Dewsbury Town Hall

Arya sitar concerto – Thu 19 March, CBSO

Orchestra of Opera North: A Space Odyssey – Thu 26 March, Huddersfield Town Hall

Orchestra of Opera North: A Space Odyssey – Sat 28 March, Leeds Town Hall

Inspiration: West End and Broadway – Sun 29 March, Leeds Town Hall

Room on the Broom and The Highway Rat – Sat 11 April, Leeds Town Hall

The Best of the West End – Rescheduled for Sun 7 March 2021, St George’s Hall, Bradford

Julia Holter: The Passion of Joan of Arc – Wednesday 24 Jun – Saturday 27 Jun 2020, Leeds Town Hall & The Barbican, London

Three Stories of Gold and Greed – Sun 12 July, Square Chapel Arts Centre, Halifax

Education

The following performances have now been cancelled; ticket holders will be contacted by the relevant box office.

Green Eggs and Ham – Sun 22 March, National Centre for Early Music, York. Ticket holders will be contacted by the NCEM box office as soon as possible.

The Water Diviner’s Tale – Mon 22 and Tues 23 June, Leeds Town Hall.

Opera North Children’s Chorus, Youth Chorus, Young Voices, and Sing ON sessions have also been postponed until further notice.

Song of our Heartland – Fri 29 and Sat 30 May, Locomotion, Shildon. We are very sorry to announce that all rehearsals and the scheduled performances of Song of our Heartland, our new community opera in partnership with Northern Heartlands, have now been cancelled. We hope to be able to continue this exciting project in the future, but in the meantime the safety and wellbeing of participants, audiences and staff are our highest concern. We would like to thank Northern Heartlands and everyone who has contributed to this project, including everyone who attended workshops and rehearsals and the wonderful creative team, for all of their hard work on this to date. Ticket bookers can email info@locomotion.org.uk to request a call back and arrange a refund. For more information, visit the Locomotion website.

Opera North Orchestra Academy – 24 – 29 August, Leeds. We regret to announce that this year’s Orchestra Academy has been cancelled and will return in 2021.

Other performances and activity

We are contacting our other partners in venues for performances and concerts in the coming weeks and will provide an update on these as soon as possible.

Our priority is the safety of our audiences, artists and staff and ask you to bear with us as we respond to a rapidly changing situation.