Julia Jones' first new opera production at Oper Wuppertal since her appointment as General Music Director there last year, opened on Saturday, 9 December 2017. Hänsel und Gretel, in a production by stage director Denis Krief, and with a cast including Cardiff Singer of the World winner Catriona Morison in the role of Hänsel, has already received excellent reviews. Click here for more information on the production and a full list of performance dates.
"Hänsel und Gretel was the operatic house debut of the new General Music Director, Julia Jones. She interprets Humperdinck’s wonderful score with keen attention to its impressionist colours. The orchestra sounds radiant and transparent throughout and so all the famous melodies (from “Brüderchen komm tanz mit mir” to Abendsegen) are well and truly sparkling." (Monika Willer, Westfalenpost)
"[Jones] unfailingly pays close mind to the action on stage and ensures the singers have the freedom to interpret their roles. The Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal plays with fresh and spirited sound." (Hartmut Sassenhausen, Westdeutsche Zeitung)
"General Music Director Julia Jones makes her operatic house debut in Wuppertal and it is apparent that she has rehearsed the excellent orchestra meticulously. The interpretation makes sense down to the [smallest] details. The orchestra has a light sound and [Jones] finds a very convincing balance between fairy-tale play and music drama. With well-planned climaxes and beguilingly beautiful sounds no part of the wonderful score remains unexploited." (Wuppertaler Rundschau)
"Already by the end of the overture it is evident to the audience what a catch Oper Wuppertal has made in Julia Jones. She brings out the colours of the prelude with such great passion and precision that the listener feels full of Christmas spirit and warm all over." (Thomas Molke, Online Musik Magazin)
Julia Jones conducts the Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal in symphonic and chamber concerts throughout the season, and will also conduct Carmen in the summer of 2018. Outside Wuppertal, this season's highlights include Die Zauberflöte at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, for which she received outstanding reviews, and La traviata, for which she will return to Den Norske Opera in Oslo in the spring.
