Opera North launches partnership with Newcastle University

Opera North has joined forces with Russel Group university Newcastle University to announce a new three-year collaboration. The partnership aims to support the exchange of knowledge between the two institutions, allowing the university’s research to impact the Leeds-based opera company’s work in both performance and audience accessibility.

The collaboration builds on the existing relationship between the two organisations developed through Opera North’s regular tours to Newcastle. In partnership with the company, the university aims to measure audience responses to opera, support performers’ vocal health and delve deeper into the subject of representation of marginalized voices.

Opera North’s head of academic partnerships Becky Smith said: ‘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’.

The new collaboration also includes the creation of Newcastle University’s Northern Bridge Consortium Collaborative Doctoral Award. Set to open for applications later this year, this award will give a PhD student access to the people and practices of both institutions, working to develop innovative approaches to titling and accessibility in performances at Opera North.

Professor Jennifer Richards, director of Newcastle University’s Humanities Research Institute, said: ‘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. The opportunity to collaborate with such an inspirational partner is an enormous opportunity to develop new ways of linking across sectors, faculties, and, as we learned most recently, species.’

Beyond the university’s humanities faculties, students and academics from the Advanced Computer Science, Civil Engineering and Mathematics & Economics departments have also worked with Opera North’s Audiences team to build a better understanding of Opera North’s audiences.