MOZART’S Don Giovanni will be the final production that Oliver Mears will take charge of as artistic director of Northern Ireland Opera.
Mears, who has been with the company since it's beginning in 2010, will leave at the end of January to take up the prestigious post of director of opera at the Royal Opera House, in London's Covent Garden.
With a philosophy of risk-taking underpinned by an imaginative programming policy and first-rate casting, over the past six years NI Opera has brought opera to a broad audience through combining exciting stories, big spectacle, and great music.
In its short history the fledging operatic company has won acclaim at home and abroad for the quality of its work and has formed a number of ambitious local and international partnerships.
Mears has mixed emotions as he approaches his final opera with the company. "It's a sad moment because we have done so many exciting shows together. We've just got to make sure it's going to be a really good one," says the Norfolk native, who suggests that he will guest direct Northern Ireland Opera again in the future.
"We've a couple of major co-productions coming up in the next couple of years. Opera operates in these very long time lines so we plan sometimes three years ahead, so there are one of two projects coming up on the road I will probably be involved with."
Don Giovanni has captivated audiences over the centuries with its famous story of seduction, murder, vengeance and the supernatural and Mears is delighted to be putting his take on Mozart's masterpiece of comedy and drama.
"Don Giovanni is such a brilliant piece. It's got everything you want in an opera. It's got the famous tunes, incredible drama, really interesting characters and a very dramatic ending. It's a challenging one as a director because you have to marry up two very different styles and atmospheres. In many ways it's a comedy, but at the end it gets very dark.
"One of the things we've majored on in the last three years is trying to draw out resonance with northern Irish history and society. We done an unusual take on it, as you would expect by now, and I think it will keep audiences on the edge of their seats," adds Mears.
The company has from its foundation been determined to offer access to opera for all, and most particularly to those individuals and communities with no previous experience of the art form.
Mears believe Don Giovanni is very accessible and understandable to non-opera goers.
"It's been so important to us in the last few years that we challenge preconceptions people have about opera – that it's boring, it's sung in a foreign language, that it's about things we don't really care about anymore and that it's not funny. We do challenge all those things rather successfully in this particular show – it's very direct and immediately understandable."
Featuring some of Mozart’s most glorious and ravishing music, including the famous Champagne aria and La Ci Darem la Mano, this production has an outstanding international and Irish cast that includes rising European star Henk Neven, leading Northern Ireland soprano Aoife Miskelly, from Warrenpoint, and renowned British bass Clive Bayley, together with the Northern Ireland Opera chorus and the Ulster Orchestra in the pit.
Mears has many highlights from his time with Northern Ireland Opera, from stage premieres to European co-productions and larger-scale shows.
Forced to choose his favourite, he singles out their performance of Puccini’s Tosca in Derry in 2011. The multi-site opera was staged in three locations in the city– St Columb’s Cathedral, Guildhall and St Columb’s Hall – and achieved high acclaim. He also has fond memories of Benjamin Britten's Noye's Fludde in Belfast Zoo as part of the London 2012 Festival.
"The zoo was such a great experience. So many young people were involved in the production and there were thousands of others who came to see it with their families. That was really special because for many it was their first experience of seeing opera and if they enjoyed it and got something from it at a young age it will break down prejudices against opera."
As he moves on, Mears hopes that NI Opera will continue to reach new audiences and build upon the international reputation they have already fostered.
"Opera is both an international and a local art form and I think the marrying of those two things can be really strong and powerful. People know what they are going to get when they go and see a Northern Ireland Opera production – something really theatrical, something brilliantly designed, prominent Northern Irish singers and they are going to see something really, really immediate.
"If I had a hope it would be that all of those values which make up our identity continue in the future. But I’m sure my successor will also have new and brilliant ideas as well."
:: Northern Ireland Opera present Don Giovanni on November 18 and 19 November at Belfast's Grand Opera House. Goh.co.uk/don-giovanni.
