English Touring Opera
Encyclopedia
English Touring Opera is an opera
company in the United Kingdom. From 1979 to 1992 it was known as Opera 80.
as the successor to Opera For All; in 1992 the company changed its name to English Touring Opera (ETO). The company aims to bring high quality opera to areas of England that would not otherwise have ready access to such productions. ETO is a charitable organization which seeks to stimulate access, understanding and appreciation of opera. It currently tours to more venues than any other opera company in the UK, touring twice each year to around 33 theatres, many of which would not normally host opera performances . It gives approximately 120 performances per year. Each season is divided into two different programme types: Spring tends to consist of large-scale performances of the standard repertoire, while Autumn tours tend to be more intimate, featuring lesser-known and more diverse works.
Its General Director (since 2002) is James Conway, and its Music Director is Michael Rosewell.
Singers who have performed with ETO include Sarah Connolly
, Mary Plazas, Sylvia O'Brien
, Todd Wilander, Jonathan Veira, Paul Nilon, Alison Hagley and Susan Gritton
. Amanda Echalaz has starred in the recent productions of Così fan tutte
, Alcina
, Eugene Onegin
and Jenůfa
.
ETO's and Opera 80's conductors have included Nicholas Kraemer
, Ivor Bolton
, Stephen Barlow, Martin André and David Parry
. It has also shown the early work of such directors as Richard Jones
, Robert Carsen, Declan Donnelly
and Steven Pimlott
.
In the autumn of 2006, ETO mounted a baroque opera festival with over 40 complementary events in twelve venues throughout the UK.
James Conway's special interest in baroque opera is also evident in English Touring Opera's 2007 season, with productions of Handel and Haydn.
The 2009 spring tour included The Magic Flute
, Katya Kabanova and Norma
.
The 2009 autumn tour celebrated the 30th anniversary of the company alongside a commemoration of the 250th year anniversary of Handel
's death. The tour features Ariodante
, Alcina
, Flavio
, Teseo
and Tolomeo
.
The Spring 2010 tour presented three comedies, taken from the 18th, 19th, and 20th Centuries: Don Pasquale
, The Marriage of Figaro
and A Midsummer Night's Dream
.
, and The Duenna
, by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
.
Tim Yealland is the current Artistic Associate for Education and overseas outreach and education programs.
One of ETO's outreach programs is Creative Residencies, in which young people with disabilities engage in week-long creative workshops.
was nominated for a Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) "Best Opera" Award.
James Conway's production of Donizetti's Mary Queen of Scots
was nominated for a South Bank Show Award in 2005.
In 2006 ETO's projects Ice and Crossing the Styx were both nominated for an RPS Award in the Education Category. Ice was a devised opera for teenagers, and Crossing the Styx was a devised opera for primary school students.
In 2007 House on the Moon with the Wolverhampton Community Opera was nominated for an RPS Best Education Project award.
In 2010 One Day, Two Dawns with Hall for Cornwall
won the RPS Education Award.
and has special permissions to travel freely throughout the country with regular performances in London, Cambridge, Exeter, Poole, Cheltenham, Malvern, Crawley, Sheffield, Wolverhampton, Buxton, Durham and Perth.
In addition, ETO receives support from individual and corporate sponsors as well as trusts and foundations.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
company in the United Kingdom. From 1979 to 1992 it was known as Opera 80.
About the company
Opera 80 was founded in 1979 by the Arts Council of Great BritainArts Council of Great Britain
The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. The Arts Council of Great Britain was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England , the Scottish Arts Council, and the Arts Council of Wales...
as the successor to Opera For All; in 1992 the company changed its name to English Touring Opera (ETO). The company aims to bring high quality opera to areas of England that would not otherwise have ready access to such productions. ETO is a charitable organization which seeks to stimulate access, understanding and appreciation of opera. It currently tours to more venues than any other opera company in the UK, touring twice each year to around 33 theatres, many of which would not normally host opera performances . It gives approximately 120 performances per year. Each season is divided into two different programme types: Spring tends to consist of large-scale performances of the standard repertoire, while Autumn tours tend to be more intimate, featuring lesser-known and more diverse works.
Its General Director (since 2002) is James Conway, and its Music Director is Michael Rosewell.
Artists
Singers whose early careers began with ETO often return to perform again with the company after their careers have developed further.Singers who have performed with ETO include Sarah Connolly
Sarah Connolly
Sarah Patricia Connolly CBE is an English mezzo-soprano.Sarah Connolly was educated at Queen Margaret's School, York and then studied piano and singing at the Royal College of Music, of which she is now a Fellow...
, Mary Plazas, Sylvia O'Brien
Sylvia O'Brien (soprano)
Sylvia O'Brien is a Dublin-born soprano who has sung leading roles with English Touring Opera, including the Governess in Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw, Gabiella in Strauss' Vienna Spirit and Costanze in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail. She has also sung as a soloist with the...
, Todd Wilander, Jonathan Veira, Paul Nilon, Alison Hagley and Susan Gritton
Susan Gritton
Susan Gritton is an English soprano.Susan Gritton was educated at the University of Oxford and the University of London, where she studied Botany....
. Amanda Echalaz has starred in the recent productions of Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
, Alcina
Alcina
Alcina is an opera seria by George Frideric Handel. Handel used the libretto of L'isola di Alcina, an opera that was set in 1728 in Rome by Riccardo Broschi, which he acquired the year after, during his travels in Italy...
, Eugene Onegin
Eugene Onegin (opera)
Eugene Onegin, Op. 24, is an opera in 3 acts , by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto was written by Konstantin Shilovsky and the composer and his brother Modest, and is based on the novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin....
and Jenůfa
Jenufa
Jenůfa is an opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a Czech libretto by the composer, based on the play Její pastorkyňa by Gabriela Preissová. It was first performed at the Brno Theater, Brno, 21 January 1904...
.
ETO's and Opera 80's conductors have included Nicholas Kraemer
Nicholas Kraemer
Nicholas Kraemer is a British harpsichordist and conductor. Kraemer began his career as a harpsichordist...
, Ivor Bolton
Ivor Bolton
Ivor Bolton is an English conductor and harpsichordist. He studied at Clare College and at the Royal College of Music...
, Stephen Barlow, Martin André and David Parry
David Parry (conductor)
David Parry is an English conductor who is particularly known for his work within the field of opera. Described as "a man of the theatre with whom directors love to work; he is good with singers; he knows the British opera world like the back of his hand...
. It has also shown the early work of such directors as Richard Jones
Richard Jones (director)
Richard Jones is a British theatre and opera director.- Early life :Jones was born in London, and studied at the University of Hull and London...
, Robert Carsen, Declan Donnelly
Declan Donnelly
Declan Joseph Oliver "Dec" Donnelly is one half of the English acting and TV presenting duo Ant & Dec, with the other being Anthony McPartlin. He came to prominence in the children's drama series Byker Grove and as one half of the pop music duo PJ & Duncan...
and Steven Pimlott
Steven Pimlott
Steven Charles Pimlott OBE was an English opera and theatre director and actor. An obituary in The Times hailed him as "one of the most versatile and inventive theatre directors of his generation"...
.
Recent productions
| Year | Season | Production |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Spring | Tosca Tosca Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900... , Puccini Noel Davies, Conductor; Tim Carroll, Director; Julie Unwin as Floria Tosca; Séan Ruane as Mario Cavaradossi Jenůfa Jenufa Jenůfa is an opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a Czech libretto by the composer, based on the play Její pastorkyňa by Gabriela Preissová. It was first performed at the Brno Theater, Brno, 21 January 1904... , Janáček Leoš Janácek Leoš Janáček was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and all Slavic folk music to create an original, modern musical style. Until 1895 he devoted himself mainly to folkloristic research and his early musical output was influenced by... Michael Rosewell, Conductor; James Conway, Director; Dwayne Jones as Laca Klemen; Amanda Echalaz as Jenůfa |
| 2006 | Autumn: Baroque Festival Tour | Orfeo Orfeo L'Orfeo , sometimes called L'Orfeo, favola in musica, is an early Baroque opera by Claudio Monteverdi, with a libretto by Alessandro Striggio. It is based on the Greek legend of Orpheus, and tells the story of his descent to Hades and his fruitless attempt to bring his dead bride Eurydice back to... , Monteverdi Katherine Manley as Music and Euridice; Hal Cazalet as Orfeo Erismena Erismena Erismena is an opera in a prologue and three acts by Francesco Cavalli. It was designated as a dramma per musica. The Italian libretto was by Aurelio Aureli, the only work by this writer for Cavalli.... , Francesco Cavalli Francesco Cavalli Francesco Cavalli was an Italian composer of the early Baroque period. His real name was Pietro Francesco Caletti-Bruni, but he is better known by that of Cavalli, the name of his patron Federico Cavalli, a Venetian nobleman.-Life:Cavalli was born at Crema, Lombardy... Andrew Slater as Erimante; Rachel Nicholls as Erismena Jephté Jephté Jephté is an opera by the French composer Michel Pignolet de Montéclair. It takes the form of a tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts . The libretto, by the Abbé Simon-Joseph Pellegrin, is based on the Biblical story of Jephtha... , Carissimi David Stout as Jephté; Jane Harrington as Filia Dido & Aeneas, Purcell Henry Purcell Henry Purcell – 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music... Joana Thomé as Dido; Patricia Orr as Sorceress Tolomeo Tolomeo Tolomeo, re d'Egitto is an opera in three acts by George Frideric Handel to an Italian text by Nicola Francesco Haym, adapted from Carlo Sigismondo Capece's Tolomeo et Alessandro.-Performance history:... , Handel HANDEL HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed.... Jonathan Peter Kenny as Tolomeo; Iestyn Morris as Alessandro |
| 2007 | Spring | Eugene Onegin Eugene Onegin (opera) Eugene Onegin, Op. 24, is an opera in 3 acts , by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto was written by Konstantin Shilovsky and the composer and his brother Modest, and is based on the novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin.... , Tchaikovsky Clare Shearer as Larina; Amanada Echalaz as Tatiana The Seraglio (Die Entführung aus dem Serail Die Entführung aus dem Serail Die Entführung aus dem Serail is an opera Singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner with adaptations by Gottlieb Stephanie... ), Mozart Sion Goronwy as Osmin; Elizabeth Donovan as Constanza Spirit of Vienna (Wiener Blut Wiener Blut Wiener Blut may refer to:*Wiener Blut , a waltz by Johann Strauss II*Wiener Blut , an operetta by Johann Strauss II*Wiener Blut , an album by Falco*Wiener Blut , a song by Rammstein... ), Strauss Cheryl Enever as Franziska (Franzi) Cagliari; Nicky Spence as Count Balduin Zedlau |
| 2007 | Autumn | Teseo Teseo Teseo is an opera seria with music by George Frideric Handel, the only Handel opera that is in five acts. The Italian-language libretto was by Nicola Francesco Haym, after Philippe Quinault's Thésée... , Handel HANDEL HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed.... Derek Lee Ragin as Egeo (Aegeus); Jeni Bern as Medea Country Matters (L’infedelta Delusa), Haydn Charlotte Ellett as Vespina; Jonathan Gunthorpe as Nanni Bridgetower, Julian Joseph Julian Joseph Julian Joseph is a jazz pianist, bandleader, composer, arranger and broadcaster. Joseph has worked solo, in his all-star big band, trio, quartet, forum project band or electric band.... |
| 2008 | Spring | Don Giovanni Don Giovanni Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787... , Mozart Jonathan Munby, Director; Roland Wood as Don Giovanni; Julia Sporsén as Donna Anna Anna Bolena Anna Bolena Anna Bolena is a tragedia lirica, or opera, in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto after Ippolito Pindemonte's Enrico VIII ossia Anna Bolena and Alessandro Pepoli's Anna Bolena, both telling of the life of Anne Boleyn... , Donizetti Michael Loyd, Conductor Julie Unwin as Anne Boleyn; Riccardo Simonetti as Henry VIII Susannah Susannah Susannah is an opera in two acts by American composer Carlisle Floyd, who wrote the libretto and music while a member of the piano faculty at Florida State University. Floyd adapted the story from the Apocryphal tale of Susannah and the Elders, though the latter story has a more positive ending... , Floyd Floyd Floyd is either a variant spelling of the Scottish name Flood or the Welsh name Lloyd which means grey, and may refer to:-Places in the United States:* Floyd, Arkansas* Floyd, California **Floyd, Fresno County, California... Alexander Ingram, Conductor; Donna Bateman as Susannah Polk; Todd Wilander as Sam Polk |
| 2008 | Autumn | Rusalka Rusalka In Slavic mythology, a rusalka was a female ghost, water nymph, succubus, or mermaid-like demon that dwelled in a waterway.... , Dvořák Antonín Dvorák Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many... Alex Ingram, Conductor; James Conway, Director; Donna Bateman as Rusalka; Richard Roberts as The Prince; Fiona Kimm as Jezibaba; Keel Watson as The Water Sprite; Camilla Roberts as the Foreign Princess La Tragédie de Carmen, Peter Brook Peter Brook Peter Stephen Paul Brook CH, CBE is an English theatre and film director and innovator, who has been based in France since the early 1970s.-Life:... Gareth Hancock, Conductor; Andrew Steggall, Director; David Curry as Don Jose; Leah-Marian Jones as Carmen |
In the autumn of 2006, ETO mounted a baroque opera festival with over 40 complementary events in twelve venues throughout the UK.
James Conway's special interest in baroque opera is also evident in English Touring Opera's 2007 season, with productions of Handel and Haydn.
The 2009 spring tour included The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
, Katya Kabanova and Norma
Norma (opera)
Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma, ossia L'infanticidio by Alexandre Soumet. First produced at La Scala on December 26, 1831, it is generally regarded as an example of the supreme height of the bel canto tradition...
.
The 2009 autumn tour celebrated the 30th anniversary of the company alongside a commemoration of the 250th year anniversary of Handel
HANDEL
HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....
's death. The tour features Ariodante
Ariodante
Ariodante is an opera seria in three acts by Handel. The anonymous Italian libretto was based on a work by Antonio Salvi, which in turn was adapted from Canti 5 and 6 of Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso...
, Alcina
Alcina
Alcina is an opera seria by George Frideric Handel. Handel used the libretto of L'isola di Alcina, an opera that was set in 1728 in Rome by Riccardo Broschi, which he acquired the year after, during his travels in Italy...
, Flavio
Flavio
Flavio, re de' Longobardi is an opera in three acts by George Frideric Handel. The Italian-language libretto was by Nicola Francesco Haym, after Matteo Noris's Il Flavio Cuniberto. It was Handel's fourth full-length opera for the Royal Academy of Music...
, Teseo
Teseo
Teseo is an opera seria with music by George Frideric Handel, the only Handel opera that is in five acts. The Italian-language libretto was by Nicola Francesco Haym, after Philippe Quinault's Thésée...
and Tolomeo
Tolomeo
Tolomeo, re d'Egitto is an opera in three acts by George Frideric Handel to an Italian text by Nicola Francesco Haym, adapted from Carlo Sigismondo Capece's Tolomeo et Alessandro.-Performance history:...
.
The Spring 2010 tour presented three comedies, taken from the 18th, 19th, and 20th Centuries: Don Pasquale
Don Pasquale
Don Pasquale is an opera buffa, or comic opera, in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The librettist Giovanni Ruffini wrote the Italian language libretto after Angelo Anelli's libretto for Stefano Pavesi's Ser Marcantonio ....
, The Marriage of Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
and A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream (opera)
A Midsummer Night's Dream is an opera with music by Benjamin Britten and set to a libretto adapted by the composer and Peter Pears from William Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream...
.
Current productions
The Autumn 2010 tour featured Promised End, a new opera by Alexander GoehrAlexander Goehr
Alexander Goehr is an English composer and academic.Goehr was born in Berlin in 1932, the son of the conductor and Schoenberg pupil Walter Goehr. In his early twenties he emerged as a central figure in the Manchester School of post-war British composers. In 1955–56 he joined Oliver Messiaen's...
, and The Duenna
The Duenna
The Duenna is a three-act comic opera, mostly composed by Thomas Linley the elder and his son, Thomas Linley the younger, to an English-language libretto by Richard Brinsley Sheridan...
, by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan was an Irish-born playwright and poet and long-term owner of the London Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. For thirty-two years he was also a Whig Member of the British House of Commons for Stafford , Westminster and Ilchester...
.
Outreach
In addition to theatre-staged operatic productions, ETO focuses on relationships with communities through education and outreach programs, and organizes projects for people of all ages and abilities – from on-stage workshops to residencies in schools and performances for children with special needs. Singers and musicians on tour with the ETO often step off-stage and into the classroom of outreach workshops alongside professional animateurs.Tim Yealland is the current Artistic Associate for Education and overseas outreach and education programs.
One of ETO's outreach programs is Creative Residencies, in which young people with disabilities engage in week-long creative workshops.
| Year | Project Title | Project Description |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | House on the Moon | Collaboration with local Wolverhampton organizations. Nearly 200 people including amateurs and professionals from every background and of every ability performed. |
| 2008 | Turtle Song | Collaboration with Turtle Key Arts and the Royal College of Music that encourages people with Alzheimer's Disease or dementia to compose and sing their own songs, working alongside professional musicians. |
| 2009 | One day, two dawns | Devised opera for Truro community. 200-member cast of local people aged 8 – 80 devise and rehearse a new piece of music. |
| 2009 | Jack and the Banstalk/Red Ridinghood | Interactive fairytale opera with pre-school students composed by Tom Smail. |
Awards
In 2004 James Conway's production of A Midsummer Night's DreamA Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
was nominated for a Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) "Best Opera" Award.
James Conway's production of Donizetti's Mary Queen of Scots
Maria Stuarda
Maria Stuarda is a tragic opera, , in two acts, by Gaetano Donizetti, to a libretto by Giuseppe Bardari, based on Friedrich Schiller's 1800 play Maria Stuart....
was nominated for a South Bank Show Award in 2005.
In 2006 ETO's projects Ice and Crossing the Styx were both nominated for an RPS Award in the Education Category. Ice was a devised opera for teenagers, and Crossing the Styx was a devised opera for primary school students.
In 2007 House on the Moon with the Wolverhampton Community Opera was nominated for an RPS Best Education Project award.
In 2010 One Day, Two Dawns with Hall for Cornwall
Hall for Cornwall
The Hall for Cornwall is a major venue in Truro, Cornwall having one large main auditorium which places host to West End musicals, opera, ballet, musical acts and other entertainers...
won the RPS Education Award.
Funding and status as a charitable organization
ETO is sponsored in part by Arts Council EnglandArts Council England
Arts Council England was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three separate bodies for England, Scotland and Wales. It is a non-departmental public body of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport...
and has special permissions to travel freely throughout the country with regular performances in London, Cambridge, Exeter, Poole, Cheltenham, Malvern, Crawley, Sheffield, Wolverhampton, Buxton, Durham and Perth.
In addition, ETO receives support from individual and corporate sponsors as well as trusts and foundations.