A LLANDUDNO-based artist will be providing the set pieces for an Olympic opera.
Nick Elphick, a sculptor who works out of his own studio in Builder Street, was invited to provide pieces for a production of Vivaldi’s opera L’Olimpiade, which will be performed in a glass opera house at the Wormsley estate of millionaire John Paul Getty as part of the Garsington Opera season in June.
Rather than produce set items out of polystyrene, Mr Elphick produced frameworks from life models, scaled the frameworks to 10ft tall, and then made the sculputres out of clay and chicken wire. When placed on their dais, the sculptures will measure a full 15ft. The sculptures depict a wrestler, a runner, a javelin thrower and a discus thrower.
Mr Elphick said he was glad of the opportunity to represent North Wales at an Olympian production, and use models from the area due to their athletic shape.
He said: “I feel like I’m able to represent North Wales in something Olympic. I was saying down in London I’m in the perfect place and I’ve got perfect models. They’re just big-set blokes. It’s great to be able to use local models to do this.”
David Roger, designer for L’Olimpiade, said he was glad to have Mr Elphick on board as the sculptor.
He said: “Nick’s the best sculptor working in that field at the moment, we’re quite lucky to have him.”
L’Olimpiade is a recently discovered Vivaldi opera, and is the only opera ever to have been written on the Olympic games. This will be the first time the opera has been performed in the United Kingdom.