Elmwood and Opera North strike a chord

Elmwood has redesigned all Opera North’s corporate and promotional material.

The Leeds consultancy, which won a three-way paid creative pitch against undisclosed rivals, has applied the new look to the coming season’s posters, leaflets and other promotional material.

A headline “Jealousy, Rage, Love, Ecstasy” crowns all the new literature and newspaper-style copy communicates the plot lines.

Elmwood’s Sarah Dear says: “Opera is an art form; the occasion of live performance is what opera is all about. We wanted to bring the literature to life.

“Characters depicting the key emotions in each opera are framed by swirling colours which add movement and dimension to the images.”

Opera North’s Anita Morris says she is “bowled over” by the new material. “Elmwood has overcome two of the biggest problems we have in communicating opera in print: condensing the plot into an obsessive phrase and visualising the intensity of emotion which opera expresses.”

Elmwood, now working on subscription material for Opera North, will also do next season’s work.