Grand Theatre, Leeds

My big news this week is Opera North's production of The Secret of the Black Spider, opening in Leeds on Friday night, 26 September. I wrote this youth opera over forty years ago, at the behest of Kent Opera, for students of Frank Hooker School, Canterbury to perform with professional help from a gifted producer, Amanda Knott, and musical director, Tim Dean.

Given its modest beginnings, it has surprised me that the opera keeps coming back and back, in many guises. It was last heard in Regensburg, Germany a couple of months ago, and I've just seen plans for a Canadian performance next year. The show in Leeds will be in a bonus version known in my own head as Bigger Black Spider, with extended choruses and further orchestrations by Benjamin Gordon.

For me, it's a big deal that Opera North will perform the show in their own major venue, the Grand Theatre in Leeds. It's characteristic of the broad view of repertoire (classic opera, community pieces, musicals, and many more) that this company has generously maintained over many decades.

PICTURED - Leeds, a proper civic place.