W11 Opera is an independent opera company which produces opera

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...

s performed by young people aged 9 to 18. Founded in 1971, it takes its name from its location in W11, a postal district in West London consisting largely of Notting Hill

Notting Hill

Notting Hill is an area in London, England, close to the north-western corner of Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...

 and parts of Holland Park

Holland Park

Holland Park is a district and a public park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in west central London, England.Holland Park has a reputation as an affluent and fashionable area, known for attractive large Victorian townhouses, and high-class shopping and restaurants...

.

Almost all of the productions are new works created by internationally-recognised composers such as George Fenton

George Fenton

George Fenton is a British composer best known for his work writing film scores and music for television, although he also writes music for the theatre. His real name is George Howe but he is better known by his pseudonym of George Fenton.-Selected film and television credits:Fenton has composed...

, John Gardner

John Gardner (composer)

John Linton Gardner, CBE is an English composer of classical music.-Biography:Gardner was born in Manchester, England and brought up in Ilfracombe, North Devon. His father Alfred Linton Gardner was a local GP and amateur composer who was killed in action in the last months of the First World War....

, Richard Harvey

Richard Harvey

Richard Harvey is a BAFTA Award–winning British musician and composer. He is best known for his film and television soundtracks...

, and Colin Towns

Colin Towns

Colin Towns is an English composer, born 13 May 1948 in London, specialising in soundtracks for film, television and commercials. Learning piano as a child, by the age of 13 he was earning money playing at weddings and birthdays in his neighbourhood of the East End of London...

. Some of these works go on to be revived by schools and other opera companies.

Notable alumni of the company include Eve Best

Eve Best

Eve Best is an English actress, best known for her roles as Dr. O'Hara in the Showtime television series Nurse Jackie, as Wallis Simpson in the 2010 film The King's Speech, and Dolley Madison in the 2011 American Experience television special about that First Lady.-Early life and education:Best...

 and Sophie Ellis Bextor.

Works commissioned and premiered, 1971-2009

W11 Opera has commissioned and produced almost 30 new operas, more than any other UK company, providing a rich repertoire of music theatre for its cast of 9 to 18 year olds. Each has a running time of just over one hour. Most of the group's commissions are available for performance by schools and music theatre groups.

• 1971 Noye's Fludde
  Noye's Fludde
  Noye's Fludde is an early 15th century mystery play from the Chester Mystery Cycle. It was set to music by Benjamin Britten in 1957 based on an edition by Alfred W. Pollard...
  
  * Benjamin Britten
  Benjamin Britten
  Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
  
  , (Chester Mystery play)
• 1972 The Pied Piper Christopher Bowers Broadbent, Jeremy Hornsby
• 1973 Bel and the Dragon, John Gardner, Timothy Kraemer
• 1974 The Winter Star*, Malcolm Williamson
• 1975 Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
  Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
  Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical with lyrics by Tim Rice. The story is based on the "coat of many colors" story of Joseph from the Hebrew Bible's Book of Genesis. This was the first Lloyd Webber and Rice musical to be performed publicly...
  
  *, Andrew Lloyd Webber
  Andrew Lloyd Webber
  Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
  
  , Tim Rice
  Tim Rice
  Sir Timothy Miles Bindon "Tim" Rice is an British lyricist and author.An Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Tony Award and Grammy Award-winning lyricist, Rice is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus...
  
  
• 1976 Like This, Like That, Timothy Kraemer, Peter Dickinson
• 1977 The Adventures of Jonah, Timothy Kraemer, Timothy Kraemer and Peter Dickinson
• 1978 The Girl and the Unicorn, Stephen Oliver, Stephen Oliver
• 1979 Dreamtime, Daryl Runswick, Daryl Runswick
• 1980 Mak the Sheep Stealer*, Herbert Chappell, Don Taylor
• 1981 Wenceslas, Timothy Kraemer, Timothy Kraemer
• 1982 Birthday (revived 1998), George Fenton, Timothy Kraemer
• 1983 Rainbow Planet, Christopher Gunning, Timothy Rose Price
• 1984 The Adventures of Jonah, + Timothy Kraemer, Timothy Kraemer & Peter Dickinson
• 1985 Bel and the Dragon, + John Gardner, Timothy Kraemer
• 1986 The Tin Knight,Francis Shaw, Michael Finch
• 1987 Ulysses and the Wooden Horse, Timothy Kraemer, Timothy Kraemer
• 1988 The Return of Odysseus, David Bedford, David Bedford
• 1989 Koppelberg, Steve Gray, Norman Brooke
• 1990 Double Trouble, Louisa Lasdun, Adam Thorpe
• 1991 A Time of Miracles, Richard Harvey, John Kane
• 1992 Listen to the Earth, Steve Gray, Sarah Shuckburgh
• 1993 Traveller’s Tale,Michael Kamen, Michael Kamen
• 1994 Antiphony, (revived 2005), Graham Preskett, John Kane
• 1995 The Dancing Princesses,Bill Connor, Nick Renton
• 1996 Ulysses and the Wooden Horse, + Timothy Kraemer, Timothy Kraemer
• 1997 Eloise,Karl Jenkins, Carol Barratt
• 1999 Rip,Colin Towns, Martin Newell
• 2000 Deep Waters,Cecilia McDowall, Christie Dickason
• 2001 Flying High, Graham Preskett, John Kane
• 2002 Stormlight, David Knotts, Katharine Craik
• 2003 Game Over, Guy Dagul, Jane Aspeling
• 2004 All in the Mind, Edward Lambert, Edward Lambert
• 2005 ANTiphony, Graham Preskett, John Kane
• 2006 Chincha-Chancha Cooroo, Bernard Hughes, William Radice
• 2007 Shadowtracks, Julian Grant, Tina Jones
• 2008 The Song of Rhiannon, Mark Bowden, Helen Cooper
• 2009 The Whale Savers, Martin Ward, Phil Porter
• 2010 Rain Dance, Stuart Hancock, Donald Sturrock

Note: * not a W11 Opera commission; + denotes commission revivals