Composer: Judith Weir
Conductor: Nicholas Shaw
Director: Rosie Kat
Opera North is attacking on all fronts at the moment. Not only did the semi-staged Simon Boccanegra pick up the Sky Arts award for Opera (two more productions on different short lists at the moment), not only is the company building the first part of the season around its ever-popular La Boheme, but the company has the chutzpah to start the season with this delightful production of Judith Weir’s The Secret of the Black Spider by the Opera North Youth Company, with superb accompaniment from the Opera North Youth Orchestra.
Of course, the company (48 in number) has some members with less strong voices or limited acting skills, but the overall effect is hugely satisfying – and impressively some members of the Youth Company can keep pace with the two professionals involved, notably Akele Obiang as Caspa, the Transylvanian folk singer who puts over her humorously interrupted folk song with as much wit and conviction as her every move and gesture. And Daniel Wright manages a wonderfully contrasted double, singing with great clarity as the mysterious Green Man and the pompous Priest.
Judith Weir, back in the day long before Damehood and Mastership of the Queen’s/King’s Music beckoned, was commissioned by a school in Canterbury to write an opera. Over the years (this was 40 years ago) the opera has gained more performances and additional instrumentalists. Then, in 2009, Staatsoper Hamburg brought out a newly orchestrated version by Benjamin Gordon – and this was the version receiving its UK premiere at Leeds.
Weir uses her youthful forces to gain that mix of terror and comedy so beloved of the young. She combined a 19th century novella by Jeremias Gotthelf and contemporary news stories about mysterious illnesses and death among researchers into a tomb at Krakow Cathedral. In her merged form the villagers are terrorised by a deadly black spider and eventually bury it in the tomb of the newly dead King Casimir. Five hundred years later you can guess what happens when the researchers open the tomb.
The modern scenes are short and spoken. The main musical interest lies in the medieval scenes. Count Heinrich decides he wants a grove of beech trees outside his castle and sets the villagers (“Vermin!”) to work moving them. A mysterious Green Man offers to perform the task. He only insists on marriage with Christina, a villager, but her betrayal of him by marrying Carl sets off the curse of the spider.
Weir adopts a whole range of musical styles, from Christina’s death aria (she recovers at the end and dances off – that’s opera for you) to fine choruses to superb chorales, beautifully delivered. The most magical moment in the opera comes at Christina’s wedding: as the guests sing “Now thank we all our god”, Christina flays around in the grip of the spider and three wedding guests intone a commentary. Frequently the text serves as a sly comment on the serious drama unfolding: as the Priest interposes a “We may learn from this…” sermon in the middle of the final chorale, everyone objects to his lesson until he flounces off in high indignation.
Pasquale Orchard and Ross Ramgobin are the two professionals employed, blending in splendidly with their young fellow-cast members. Orchard’s Christina becomes ever more comic and Ramgobin is thoroughly unlikeable, relishing his aggression and contempt for the villagers – at least the spider did some good, destroying him in the height of his power at a drunken dinner.
The momentum of laughter increases steadily as the opera nears its close. An undoubted success, it owes its appeal to conductor Nicholas Shaw, director Rosie Kat, the forces of Opera North Youth Company and Orchestra – and, of course, Dame Judith Weir, here to enjoy the experience.
Runs until 27th September 2025
