Opera North

Artistic excellence through its work at blow-me-down farm, Opera North seeks to revitalize the extraordinary spirit of creativity that defined the cornish colony through the development of the farm into a campus for the arts and the site of a new summer arts festival. For the period from october 1, 2022 - september 30, 2023, Opera North's activities included: -cavalcade, staged and created by big apple circus and cirkus smirkus director mark lonergan in collaboration with artistic director louis burkot and general director evans haile. Professional circus artists were featured alongside Opera North's resident artists and orchestra. -georges bizet's carmen: conducted by artistic director louis burkot and directed by alexander mark sheerin, featuring Opera North's resident artists and orchestra. -rodgers and hammerstein's carousel: directed by evan pappas and conducted by louis burkot, featuring guest principal artists, resident artists, and the Opera North orchestra. -jazz on a sunday afternoon: an afternoon of jazz favorites under the tent on the lawn at blow-me-down farm featuring celebrated local jazz artists. The 2023 summerfest season, returning to full post-pandemic production, drew nearly 5,000 visitors to the farm for a range of performances encompassing circus, Opera, musical theater, and jazz.

Renovation of the beaman house at blow-me-down farm during the past year, Opera North made significant progress in phase two of renovations at the beaman house, the future administrative base for the new national park for the arts that we are developing in partnership with the national park service. The work to preserve and rehabilitate the historic blow-me-down farm in cornish is under the direction of architect andrew garthwaite and his architectural firm haynes & garthwaite, with contractor ingram construction. The first phase of garthwaite's work, which was delayed by the federal budgetary shutdown and then the covid-19 pandemic, is currently addressing issues related to the current condition of the building and the preservation of the historic site. Garthwaite and ingram construction spent the spring of 2023 renovating an existing restroom in the main house to create an accessible restroom. Additional site work this past year included repairing the timber sills, painting the exterior, repairing the porches, and repairing the framing, trim, siding, windows and flashing, as needed. Phase two was supported, in large part, through grants from the new hampshire's land and community heritage investment program, the new hampshire state council on the arts cultural conservation program, and the national trust for historic preservation. Additionally, conversations have begun with representatives from the northern borders regional commission and usda's rural development program about funding for needed infrastructure - especially public restroom.

Education and outreach the pandemic forced a pause on our educational programming in area schools over the past year. Eight young singers from the upper valley music center (lebanon, nh) were invited to join Opera North this summer for the children's chorus in carmen. We developed a series of successful virtual education events aimed at adult audiences, including a "love songs" (a valentine-themed concert), a conversation with two former resident artists returning to on in the 2023 season as stage directors, and a virtual vocal coaching conducting by louis burkot to which the public was invited to watch. Each event was also recorded and could be accessed at patrons' convenience. This virtual format was an especially successful one for these kinds of events, allowing us to broaden our audience beyond those geographically proximate to the event location. Opera North's national impact is most keenly seen through its resident artist program. Over the company's history, over 800 singers, pianists, conductors, and directors have participated in this important professional training opportunity. Significant numbers of resident artist program alumni have gone on to perform in the world's most prestigious Opera houses, lead Opera companies and orchestras, and serve in academic and artistic roles in universities and conservatories across the country.