PRESS RELEASE
7 May 2015
The Opera Platform is launched – free, live and on demand
www.theoperaplatform.eu
The Royal Opera and Welsh National Opera are delighted to announce their involvement in a new online
platform dedicated to opera. From Friday 8 May, The Opera Platform will offer both those who already love
opera and those curious to try it for the first time the opportunity to watch performances and access backstage
content via a new online platform.
This new website is supported by the European Commission’s Creative Europe programme and created by a
partnership led by Opera Europa – the European association of opera companies and festivals – with cultural
broadcaster ARTE and 15 European opera companies including The Royal Opera and WNO in the UK. This
multinational partnership is set to extend the reach of opera in Europe and beyond.
The Opera Platform will offer free content from the 15 opera companies involved. This will include full opera
performances and extracts, synopses and background material, artist interviews and behind-the-scenes
documentaries.
Król Roger will be the first opera from The Royal Opera to be streamed on The Opera Platform on 16 May
2015. Szymanowski’s opera Król Roger is performed for the first time at Covent Garden this Season, in a new
production by Kasper Holten, Director of Opera for The Royal Opera.
The production marks the first
collaboration between Royal Opera Music Director Antonio Pappano and Kasper Holten. Designs are by
Steffen Aarfing, lighting design is by Jon Clark, video designs by Luke Halls and choreography by Cathy
Marston. The cast features Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecień as King Roger, with American soprano Georgia
Jarman making her Royal Opera debut in the role of Roger’s queen, Roxana. Albanian tenor Saimir Pirgu
sings the role of the Shepherd, with British tenor Kim Begley as Roger’s advisor Edrisi, Polish mezzo-soprano
Agnes Zwerko as the Deaconess and Irish bass Alan Ewing as the Archbishop. The production is a coproduction with Dallas Opera and Opera Australia.
The first full-length opera from Welsh National Opera to be streamed on the platform will be the Company’s
new commission for 2016, In Parenthesis. Based on the poem In Parenthesis by World War I poet David
Jones, this new opera is composed by Iain Bell with a libretto by David Antrobus and Emma Jenkins. It will be
directed by WNO Artistic Director David Pountney and conducted by Carlo Rizzi, with design by Robert Innes
Hopkins. In Parenthesis features an exciting ensemble cast including Peter Coleman-Wright, Graham Clark,
Donald Maxwell and Alexandra Deshorties. In Parenthesis will be broadcast on The Opera Platform in
summer 2016. A second WNO opera will be broadcast in summer 2017.
WNO Artistic Director, David Pountney, says: ‘Opera Europa’s opera platform offers WNO a great opportunity
to widen its access internationally, and will build up a library of online work which reflects the astonishing
vibrancy of the art form, featuring famous classic titles alongside many world premieres and rarer works, and
setting the great companies like Madrid and Vienna alongside and on an equal footing with smaller companies
who do not have such a high online profile. This is a great opportunity for opera to widen its appeal, and WNO
is proud to play its part as a founder member.’
Kasper Holten, Director of Opera for The Royal Opera, says : ‘This is a fantastic European-wide initiative
offering opera lovers and newcomers to opera a chance to enjoy the very best that Europe has to offer for
free! I am particularly thrilled that our brand new production of Król Roger is the first to be captured for this
new platform for streaming opera. This new means of getting relatively unknown treasures to a wide audience
is very exciting for all of us, and I am personally looking forward to seeing a whole range of new productions
and works in the forthcoming months.’
The Opera Platform will be launched with a live transmission from Madrid’s Teatro Real of La traviata.
Throughout May, the platform will also broadcast Król Roger from The Royal Opera, Kullervo from Finnish
National Opera and Valentina from Latvian National Opera. At least one new opera will be broadcast from the
platform each month, and each will be available to access on demand for six months. Additional content will
be regularly added to the platform.
The Opera Platform is launched as part of the ninth annual European Opera Day, for which this year’s theme
is ‘Opera alive and online’.
Ends
Notes to Editor
The Opera Platform
List of Partners: 17 partners from 12 countries
 Opera Europa (lead partner)
 ARTE
 Wiener Staatsoper
 La Monnaie/De Munt Brussels
 Finnish National Opera, Helsinki
 Festival d’Aix-en-Provence
 Opéra national de Lyon
 Komische Oper Berlin
 Staatstheater Stuttgart








Teatro Regio di Torino
Latvian National Opera Riga
Dutch National Opera and Ballet Amsterdam
Den Norske Opera og Ballett Oslo
Teatr Wielki/Opera Naradowa Warsaw
Teatro Real Madrid
The Royal Opera
Welsh National Opera
www.facebook.com/TheOperaPlatform
@OperaPlatform
Contacts:
Luke O’Shaughnessy
Project Manager
Opera Europa
luke@opera-europa.org
Tel: +33 7 83 32 23 25
#TheOperaPlatform
Claude Savin
Press & Public relations
ARTE
claude.sevrin@arte.tv
Tel: +33 388 14 21 45
Audrey Jungers
Manager
Opera Europa
audrey@opera-europa.org
Tel: +32 2 217 6705
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House aims to enrich people’s lives through opera and ballet. Home to two of the world’s
great artistic companies – The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet, performing with the Orchestra of the Royal
Opera House – we seek to be always accessible and engaging, to develop audiences across the UK and to
break new ground in the presentation of lyric theatre.
Press Contact: Ann Richards, Head of Opera Press, The Royal Opera
020 7212 9132 / ann.richards@roh.org.uk
Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera is the national opera company for Wales. WNO is funded by the Arts Councils of Wales
and England to provide large scale opera across Wales and to major cities in the English regions.
WNO production images are available for download at http://www.wno.org.uk/press
For more information, photos or interviews please contact Rachel Bowyer, Press and Public Affairs Manager
on 029 2063 5038 or rachel.bowyer@wno.org.uk or Branwen Jones, Press Officer on 029 2063 5037 or
branwen.jones@wno.org.uk
In Parenthesis is commissioned by the Nicholas John Trust
With 14-18 NOW, WW1 Centenary Art Commissions, supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council
England and the Heritage Lottery Fund
Supported by WNO Commissions Group