Upcoming events.
Winter Dreams and Memories
This Christmas, Opera Vera invites you to Winter Dreams and Memories — a lyrical journey through snow, longing, and imagination. The programme brings together music of the 20th century, where romance, nostalgia, and quiet wonder meet in a winter landscape. From the luminous world of Strauss and Dvořák to the haunting intimacy of Schoenberg’s early Erwartung (Op. 2), and from Barber’s quiet melancholy to Gurney’s lyric warmth and Cole Porter’s sparkling wit — this is a celebration of winter in all its moods.
An evening of reflection and delight, where dreams, memories, and music intertwine — offering a festive moment of beauty and peace in the heart of winter.
Love - The Essence of Life
Join us for Love – The Essence of Life, a special fundraising concert in support of Maggie’s Cancer Centre. This lunchtime performance features arias and songs that celebrate love in all its forms — as a source of hope, strength, and resilience.
Presented by Opera Vera, with soprano Yuliya Trishkeu and pianist/music director James Gillett, the program includes works by Bellini, Rimsky-Korsakov, Dvořák, Puccini, and more. Through music, we honour the vital work Maggie’s does for those affected by cancer and aim to raise funds to support this extraordinary organisation.
This concert will take place at the Bridgewater Hall in the Barbirolli Room.
The event has been postponed from October to Spring 2026, with the exact date and time to be confirmed in due course.
Past Events
Debut Production - To Life Beyond
Opera Vera’s debut production “To Life Beyond” featured two powerful vocal cycles that confront the mystery of death — not with fear, but with transcendent beauty. Shostakovich’s Seven Romances on Poems of Alexander Blok (Op. 127), a 20th-century masterpiece, was paired with Beggar’s Belief by contemporary British composer Adam Gorb. Though composed decades apart, both works trace a journey through darkness, grief, and existential reflection. Yet each culminates in luminous serenity, presenting death not as an end, but as a transformation — a passage toward peace, stillness, and spiritual renewal. This emotionally rich program offered a profound meditation on mortality, faith, memory, and grace.
Robin Walker:
“Yuliya’s performance and characterisation was of the highest order: a truly dramatic and feminine expression of tragedy and artistic truth. It was a privilege to witness this.”
John Turner:
“A really splendid performance! Wonderful singing and playing of Adam’s piece.”