Pictured above: Opera North's Rachel Mosley, Paul
Gibson (second left) and Martin Pickard (right) with Carl Dickinson
from Yorkshire Bank at the opera lunch
Yorkshire Bank celebrated its five-year partnership with Opera
North by inviting 40 members to its Financial Solutions Centre
(FSC) in the city to enjoy lunch and excerpts from popular
works.
Soprano Rachel Mosley and baritone Paul Gibson sang pieces from
La Bohème and Don Giovanni as well as music from Opera
North's next season's productions of Carmen and The Merry Widow
with the company's head of music, Martin Pickard, playing the
piano.
Peter Restall, Opera North's senior stage manager, gave an
insight into life working in an opera company which covered
subjects ranging from rehearsing to costume fittings.
Over the last five years, Yorkshire Bank has sponsored various
Opera North productions including The Marriage of Figaro and The
Adventures of Pinocchio as well as offering over 700 secondary
school students the chance to be involved in creative opera
workshops at their schools before attending a live performance.
Carl Dickinson, managing partner at Yorkshire Bank in Castle
Meadow Road, Nottingham, said he was pleased with the part they had
played in helping develop music and arts in the local
community.
"Our partnership has been a positive way of introducing opera to
audiences who otherwise may not have thought it would interest
them," he said.
"The performances given by Rachel and Paul were fantastic and I
am sure it whetted the appetite of the audience to hear more.
"It is the first time we have held this kind of opera event live
in the centre and it continues to highlight our commitment to
integrating the bank into the community and the arts."
Joanne Kershaw, corporate partnerships manager at Opera North,
said the link-up with Yorkshire Bank is extremely important since
it supported the company to run outreach programmes with
communities in the North and East Midlands.
"One of Yorkshire Bank's main objectives was to take music and
arts into the community so it is accessible to a wide range of
people and to allow people who would not necessarily have been able
to get to the theatre to hear opera," she said.
"This partnership has also allowed us to perform at community
centres and care homes as well as in various secondary schools.
"It has been extremely successful and we look forward to
continuing to work with Yorkshire Bank in different ways to
encourage a love of this genre of music."