Läckö Castle Opera
Coordinates: 58°40′30″N 13°13′12″E / 58.67500°N 13.22000°E
Läckö Castle Opera (Swedish: Läckö Slottsopera) is a summer opera company which has staged an opera each summer since 1997. Performances take place in the inner courtyard of the baroque Läckö Castle 25 km from the city of Lidköping in Sweden, normally during three weeks of the summer starting in the middle of July.
The Castle Opera started in 1997 as an independent project where the Foundation of Läckö Castle made the courtyard available to an external producer. The audience's positive response to the first operas led the Foundation of Läckö Castle to assume responsibility as organizers from 2001 onwards. Opera performance became a part of the Foundation's regular activities, with an aim to show the castle to the public and contribute to the Lidköping area's high quality cultural experiences.
In 2003 the Castle Opera initiated a collaboration with Musik i Väst (presently Kultur i Väst – Culture in the West) that continues to this day. Simon Phipps, the former Artistic Director of Musik i Väst, is the musical director for the opera performances at Läckö Castle Opera.
A retractable sail roof was installed in 2006 in the inner courtyard of the castle as rain protection for the audience. The total roof area is 400 m2 divided into four sections; two of 120 m2 each and two of 80 m2 each.
The Castle Opera received the Swedish magazine Opera's Opera Prize (Swedish: Tidskrften Operas operapris) in 2011 for its 'daring repertoire policy', the first time the Opera Prize was awarded to an institution.
The inner courtyard is the prime reason for opera being performed at Läckö Castle. The high whitewashed walls are highly irregular; no lines are straight and no angle is equal to any other angle. The result is acoustically well suited for live unamplified music and a whisper can be heard by the entire audience. The inner courtyard seats 370 to 390 spectators, depending on the size of the stage and the orchestra pit for a given production.
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