City Inn Art Exhibitions
City Inn Manchester: 24 hours a day.'Opera North
June - September 2010
City Inn Manchester is proud to present a dynamic cultural exhibition in partnership with Opera North. This exciting exhibition is open to the public and set within the social spaces of the City Inn Manchester hotel. Consisting of five full opera costumes and eighteen photographs of opera performances by Opera North, the exhibition celebrates the work of Opera North and gives the public an opportunity for an up close and personal insight in to opera. Opera is an artform benefitting from a recent explosion of popularity among a wide range audiences. City Inn hotels believe in the life enhancing character of culture and the vital role cultural institutions play in the life of cities and is duly proud to welcome a little bit Opera North into the hotel.
The costumes are from two operas which are very different. Verdi’s Don Carlos written in 1866, a grand opera with an extra large chorus; and A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Benjamin Britten a contemporary and daring opera which premiered in 1960. Choosing costumes from two production from very different eras demonstrates how opera not only has a rich heritage to draw from, but is also a living and evolving artform. For instance, Rufus Wainwright premiered an opera at last years Manchester Festival which City Inn also proudly supports. To accompany the costumes, we are presenting 18 large photographs showing a wide spectrum of live stage shots of operas performed by Opera North spanning the companies history of over 30 years.
Based in Leeds with an international reputation, Opera North takes up residence in Manchester three times a year for one week each opera season when the company performs at the Lowry. When in Manchester, Opera North draws on a diverse repertoire to deliver exciting productions of exemplary quality. These productions compliment the cities legendary cultural vibrancy aptly. Next performance in Manchester --- La Boheme - book tickets.
And as ever, my thanks to the City Inn Manchester staff and City Inn Head Office staff without whom these exhibitions would not be possible.
-Meredith Gunderson, Curator
City Inn runs a changing programme of art exhibitions across our 6 UK cities. Exhibitions are set within the public spaces of the hotels and open to view 24 hours a day. Each exhibition is curated by Hotel Art Curator, Meredith Gunderson.
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Image: The Market Stall, 2009 (detail) © Jean Hobson