Newcastle University and Opera North announce new academic partnership

Newcastle University and Opera North have announced a new three-year collaboration, with the ambition to ‘transform’ performance practice and audience accessibility through an exchange of knowledge between academic research and the operatic stage.

The partnership builds on the two organisations’ history of working together around the Leeds based opera company’s regular tours to Newcastle and Gateshead.

Its aims include measuring audience responses to opera using neuroscience, with the goal of enhancing access and participation; and an all-embracing exploration of the voice on the stage, from vocal health to questions of the representation of marginalised or silenced voices.

The focus on the voice emerged during lockdown from a series of remote discussions and seminars involving academics from across the University and Opera North performers and staff. One of the first outcomes of this interdisciplinary approach is a new podcast, ‘Staging the Voice, Voicing the Stage’.

The first episode finds Jo Robinson, Professor of Theatre and Performance and head of the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics at the University, in a discussion with Opera North staff about captioning performances, beginning with a look at the Company’s evolving approach to surtitles and access, as well as aspirations for the future.

A Northern Bridge Consortium Collaborative Doctoral Award, open for applications later this year, will give a PhD student the chance to give shape to these ambitions through access to Opera North’s sector-leading practice and process, together with the latest thinking on captioning from Newcastle University.

The partnership is not confined to the humanities faculties of the University, with last summer’s ‘Bootcamp’ at the National Innovation Centre for Data bringing students and academics from Advanced Computer Science, Civil Engineering and Mathematics & Economics together with members of Opera North’s Audiences team to solve ‘live’ data problems.

Becky Smith, head of academic partnerships, Opera North, commented: “Opera North is excited by the opportunities this new academic partnership with Newcastle University brings.

“We can already see how our joint activities are supporting our mutual efforts to connect with communities in the region, ensure diversity and inclusion in our work, boost knowledge creation and student engagement, and strengthen the sustainability of our business as we develop the company’s creative ambitions”.

Professor Jennifer Richards, director of Newcastle University’s Humanities Research Institute, added: “This partnership has been many years in the making: we have spent time exploring the ethos we share, the themes that matter to us, and how we want to co-create together.”

By Matthew Neville – Senior Correspondent, Bdaily

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