- English Touring Opera
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English Touring Opera (ETO) is an opera company in the United Kingdom. From 1979 to 1992 it was known as Opera 80.
Contents
About the company
Opera 80 was founded in 1979 by the Arts Council of Great Britain as the successor to Opera For All;[1] 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 [2]. It gives approximately 120 performances per year[2]. 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[2].
Its General Director (since 2002) is James Conway, and its Music Director is Michael Rosewell[2].
Productions
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, 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.
Recent productions
Year Season Production 2006 Spring Tosca, Puccini
Noel Davies, Conductor; Tim Carroll, Director; Julie Unwin as Floria Tosca; Séan Ruane as Mario Cavaradossi
Jenůfa, Janáček
Michael Rosewell, Conductor; James Conway, Director; Dwayne Jones as Laca Klemen; Amanda Echalaz as Jenůfa2006 Autumn: Baroque Festival Tour Orfeo, Monteverdi
Katherine Manley as Music and Euridice; Hal Cazalet as Orfeo
Erismena, Francesco Cavalli
Andrew Slater as Erimante; Rachel Nicholls as Erismena
Jephté, Carissimi
David Stout as Jephté; Jane Harrington as Filia
Dido & Aeneas, Purcell
Joana Thomé as Dido; Patricia Orr as Sorceress
Tolomeo, Handel
Jonathan Peter Kenny as Tolomeo; Iestyn Morris as Alessandro2007 Spring Eugene Onegin, Tchaikovsky
Clare Shearer as Larina; Amanada Echalaz as Tatiana
The Seraglio (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Mozart
Sion Goronwy as Osmin; Elizabeth Donovan as Constanza
Spirit of Vienna (Wiener Blut), Strauss
Cheryl Enever as Franziska (Franzi) Cagliari; Nicky Spence as Count Balduin Zedlau2007 Autumn Teseo, Handel
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 Joseph2008 Spring Don Giovanni, Mozart
Jonathan Munby, Director; Roland Wood as Don Giovanni; Julia Sporsén as Donna Anna
Anna Bolena, Donizetti
Michael Loyd, Conductor
Julie Unwin as Anne Boleyn; Riccardo Simonetti as Henry VIII
Susannah, Floyd
Alexander Ingram, Conductor; Donna Bateman as Susannah Polk; Todd Wilander as Sam Polk2008 Autumn Rusalka, Dvořák 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
Gareth Hancock, Conductor; Andrew Steggall, Director; David Curry as Don Jose; Leah-Marian Jones as CarmenIn 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.[3] 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.
Current productions
The Autumn 2010 tour featured Promised End, a new opera by Alexander Goehr, and The Duenna, by Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
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 Dream 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.[4] 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.
Funding and status as a charitable organization
ETO is sponsored in part by Arts Council England 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.
References
- ^ The New Grove Dictionary of Opera: Opera 80 at Oxfordmusiconline.com
- ^ a b c d About ETO at www.englishtouringopera.org.uk
- ^ ETO announces casting for 30th anniversary tour in Spring 2009 at www.musicalcriticism.com
- ^ Charity Commission PDF
External links
Categories:- British opera companies
- Musical groups established in 1979
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