The 30th anniversary of Mid Wales Opera is fast approaching and has been acknowledged in the Senedd by Montgomeryshire AM, Russell George.
On Wednesday (31st January), Mr George was called by the Presiding Officer to make a 90 second statement in the National Assembly for Wales on the subject of his choice and chose to celebrate the achievements of Mid Wales Opera which began in Meifod in 1989 and has been going from strength to strength ever since.
The idea of Mid Wales Opera began with opera scenes at the “Mid Wales Centre for Opera” led by music teacher Barbara McGuire and Keith Darlington who were then lecturing in opera at Birmingham Conservatoire.
Mid Wales Opera now bring fully staged professional opera into the heart of communities across Wales and the Borders with their main stage performances each Spring and small stage community touring programme each Autumn.
Mr George said:
"I was delighted to be called by the Presiding Officer to draw the Assembly's attention to the 30th Anniversary of Mid Wales Opera, which is fast approaching.
"With 27 performances in 2017, the company’s most ever in a year, it is clear that homegrown opera from Montgomeryshire is going from strength to strength.
"The company have recently travelled from Aberdaron on the Llyn Peninsula to Ammanford Miners’ Theatre and all points in between and are now looking forward to their main stage tour of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, with a cast of 15 and orchestra of 12 from Bangor-based Ensemble Cymru.
"The opening performance will be at Hafren, Newtown on Saturday 24th February before heading out on the road to Aberystwyth, Bangor, Newport, Mold, Brecon, Llanelli, Milford Haven and Hereford.
"I hope that everyone gets the chance to catch one of their performances in their 30th anniversary year."
Lydia Basset from Mid Wales Opera added:
“Mid Wales Opera is very proud to be firmly rooted in Montgomeryshire, rehearsing and opening our shows in Newtown each Spring at Hafren and working in partnership with Hafren on our Small Stages community touring programme each Autumn.
“We’re passionate about bringing fully staged, live opera to all the communities in Wales and across the Border and sharing our love for this extraordinary art-form with both newcomers to opera and opera-lovers who would not otherwise get to see live performances close to home.”