RENOWNED Indian opera singer Anando Mukerjee has said that Byron Jackson’s diverse production of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman will break barriers in opera.
The play is the UK’s first ethnically led Wagner production with artistic direction from Jackson and stage direction by Iqbal Khan.
Jackson, a dramatic baritone of British Jamaican heritage from the West Midlands, is the Artistic Director of Persona Arts (formerly BJ Music Events), a charitable organisation dedicated to bringing opera, classical, and choral music to the West Midlands communities.
“The show is part of a mission to break down racial barriers that still exist within the opera and classical music sectors,” Mukerjee told Eastern Eye.
Regarded as Richard Wagner’s first indisputable masterpiece, The Flying Dutchman is a staple of the international opera canon.
Premiered in 1843, it narrates the tale of a man cursed to sail the seas forever unless he discovers true love. This production will be performed in its original German, accompanied by English subtitles.