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Audio clips of Northern Opera Group's performance of Charles Villiers Stanford's 'Much Ado About Nothing' (2019) provided by kind permission of David Ward and Northern Opera Group.

Episode 4

Michelle Assay talks to David Ward about programming Shakespeare-inspired operas in his role as Artistic Director of Northern Opera Group. Michelle and David discuss the Group's 2019 Festival of Shakespearian operatic works, including Charles Villiers Stanford's Much Ado About Nothing. They also explore Gustav Holst's Henry IV opera, At The Boars Head, which will be performed alongside two other Holst operas at the 2021 festival. The conversation touches on issues such as Shakespeare's place in English national identity, the particular challenges faced by English composers when adapting Shakespeare into opera, and the operatic appeal of Falstaff.

00:01:06: The Northern Opera Group and the 2019 Shakespeare festival
00:07:37: Stanford's Much Ado About Nothing
00:22:06: (English) opera and fidelity to Shakespeare
00:31:32: 2021 (and beyond): Holst's At The Boar's Head

David Ward is the Artistic Director of Northern Opera Group. For Northern Opera Group: (as Director) 'Amahl and the Night Visitors', 'Cinderella', 'Alfred', 'The Pirates', 'The Original Chinese Conjuror', 'The Yellow Princess'; (as Conductor) 'The Wandering Scholar'. A graduate of the University of Cambridge, David has worked previously for Opera North, the Royal Northern College of Music, Northern Ballet, and the Leeds International Piano Competition. David is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, and a Clore Emerging Cultural Leader. He is a Trustee of the Opera and Music Theatre Forum, and Leeds Youth Opera. David hosts Northern Opera Group's monthly podcast, 'Operacast'.