Manoj Kamps opens their 2022/23 season with a much-anticipated return to Opera North UK to conduct Verdi’s La Traviata, marking their second production at the house following a hugely successful debut in 2019 working alongside Christian Curnyn on Handel’s Giulio Cesare. Directed by Alessandro Talevi and designed by Madeleine Boyd, La Traviata is double cast, with soprano Máire Flavin (Violetta) and tenor Oliver Johnston (Alfredo) taking the lead roles in Manoj’s cast whose performances take place in Leeds on 30 Sep, 2, 24, 27 Oct, before touring to Newcastle on 2 Nov, Nottingham on 10 Nov, and Manchester on 15, 17 Nov 2022. For more info: https://www.operanorth.co.uk/whats-on/la-traviata-2022/

Elsewhere in the opera world, Manoj has established a strong relationship with Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam: Manoj made a memorable debut in DNO’s 2020 Opera Forward Festival as Musical Director and Co-Creator of FAUST [working title], a new collective work which they devised with fellow creator and director Lisenka Heijboer Castañón, featuring the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra on the pit. Following an immediate re-invitation, Manoj returned to DNO in spring 2022, joining forces once again with Lisenka in leading a team of creatives in another new collective work, I Have Missed You Forever, this time co-produced by the ensemble Asko|Schönberg.

Manoj made their US debut at 2019 Prototype Festival in New York, conducting with the semi-staged première of MILA, Great Sorcerer by Andrea Clearfield, featuring The Knights and the New York Virtuoso Singers. Manoj also conducted the world première and tour of Hilda Paredes’ chamber opera Harriet: Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman with soprano Claron McFadden in the title role and HERMESensemble. Produced by Muziektheater Transparant, Harriet premiered at the Amsterdam Muziekgebouw in 2018 and subsequently toured to the Cervantino Festival (Mexico), Huddersfield International Contemporary Music Festival, Rotterdam Opera Days, Théâtre de la Croix-Rousse (Lyon), and de Singel (Antwerp). Previously at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Manoj co-created and led the European tour of the chamber opera Be With Me Now. With Reisoper (Dutch Touring Opera), Manoj worked on new production of Purcell’s The Fairy Queen with De Veenfabriek and Combattimento.

Following major UK debuts last season with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Manoj returns in 2022/23 to conduct subscription concerts with Ulster Orchestra (Prokofiev 1, Ravel Piano Concerto in G with Steven Osborne, Louise Farrenc 3) and London Sinfonietta (including Steve Reich’s new work Reich / Richter at Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre). Plans further ahead include another return to Dutch National Opera in 2024, a debut with La Monnaie Brussels in 2025, an extensive Mozart tour with the Orchestra of the 18th Century across Europe, and a contemporary programme with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

Photo credit: Judith Tielemans