Otello & the Barber of Seville
- UK debut of renowned director Paul Curran.
- Excursions, talks and walks.
- 5-star hotel in the Cardiff Bay development.
Welsh National Opera have a new home. A new home and a first home, for as Europe’s busiest touring opera company they have hitherto been found outside Wales as often as in. The company goes from strength to strength, with a critically acclaimed chorus and orchestra and a Music Director, Carlo Rizzi, who has returned for another stint after a glittering ten years 1992–2001.
After a painful decade of architectural controversy during which the first scheme was ditched, the WNO have a fitting base in Cardiff. The new architects, Percy Thomas, were instructed to build something ‘unmistakeably Welsh and internationally outstanding.’ The result: The Wales Millennium Centre, a massive structure of slate, glass and steel, built to withstand the lashings of the elements on its coastal location and embodying the natural resources and industries of Wales.
It has the largest orchestra pit in the United Kingdom, and while the auditorium seats 1,850, it is acoustically excellent.
The Millennium Centre is one of many projects in Cardiff Bay, a development that has transformed the old docks of the city into a waterfront stretch of exciting design. Our five-star, ultramodern and light-filled hotel is a key element in the Bay and has variously been referred to by journalists as thrilling, sexy, soothing and solicitous. The centre of the city is an admirable Edwardian exercise in town planning, imperious and compact.