Rabat – The Welsh National Opera (WNO) is set to land in Rabat for a performance at the Mohammed V National Theatre on December 5, 2019. The concert will mark the company’s first appearance in Morocco and in Africa as a whole.
“We are absolutely delighted that Welsh National Opera will be visiting Morocco and Africa for the first time,” Peter Harrap, orchestra and chorus director at WNO, said in a press release from the British Embassy in Rabat.
“We will present a rich program of many of the finest moments from Italian opera,” Harrap’s statement continues.
The concert is part of the strategic partnership between the UK and Morocco. The cooperation aims to heighten cultural exchange between the two nations in addition to strengthening political and economic ties.
Morocco’s capital city will welcome international artists who have worked with some of the world’s biggest opera houses such as the Royal Opera House in London, the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, and La Scala in Milan, Italy.
WNO’s former music director and conductor Laureate Carlo Rizzi will accompany the orchestra, as well as American soprano Mary Elizabeth Williams and the Welsh tenor Gwyn Hughes Jones.
Founded by Idloes Owen, WNO began as an amateur body in 1943 in Cardiff, Wales. The company delivered its first performances in 1946 and transformed into an all-professional ensemble in 1970.
WNO is now one of the finest major orchestras in the UK. The company is “highly praised for its distinction in wide-ranging operatic repertoire as well as its extremely varied concert and symphonic work and portfolio recordings,” according to the press release.
A world-class ensemble, WNO participates in the St. David’s Hall International Concert Series and Welsh Proms every year in Cardiff. Additionally, WNO is one of two national orchestras from Wales featured in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.
Prior to the concert in Rabat on December 5, members of the orchestra are set to offer a music lesson at a Moroccan public primary school. The orchestra will invite the school kids to attend their concert rehearsal. This initiative is part of WNO’s commitment to make art accessible to all.
The concert is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available to purchase at the Mohammed V National Theatre or online.
