Welsh National Opera
Encyclopedia : W : WE : WEL : Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera or WNO is a touring operatic company founded in Cardiff, Wales in 1943. The WNO now tours Wales, the United Kingdom and the rest of the world extensively. Annually, it performs over 120 main scale operas. In Cardiff, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool, Llandudno, Oxford, Milton Keynes, Plymouth, Southampton and Swansea, they regularly perform to over 150,000 people. Once every two years they perform a major season of opera in London.
In 2004 the Company acquired its first ever permanent home in Cardiff in the new Wales Millennium Centre, a new performing arts centre in the city.
The opera company consists of a professional orchestra (The Orchestra of Welsh National Opera) and a professional choir (The Chorus of Welsh National Opera). Sometimes, the orchestra and the choir perform at events independently of one another. The orchestra and the choir often perform at St David's Hall in Cardiff and at other venues throughout Wales.
Its musical directors have included:
- Sir Charles Groves (1961–1963)
- Sir Richard Armstrong (1973–1986)
- Sir Charles Mackerras (1987–1992)
- Carlo Rizzi (1992–2001)
- Tugan Sokhiev (2003–4)
- Carlo Rizzi (2004– )
Achievements
According to WNO, they are Europe's busiest touring opera company and the largest provider of touring opera in the UK. Recent awards include:- an Evening Standard Award,
- a Barclays Theatre Award,
- two Laurence Olivier Awards, and
- three Royal Philharmonic Society Awards.
As well as its artistic achievements, the company behind the opera has achieved success in business. Cardiff Theatrical Services, one of WNO's subsidiary businesses, is one of the largest producers of opera stage sets in the UK. As well as producing all the stage sets for the WNO, it makes sets for other opera companies such as The Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne Opera, Opera North, Royal National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Opéra de Monte-Carlo, De Vlaamse Opera and the Kirov Opera.
The WNO has realised great success in attracting a younger audience to opera, helping to make its home, the Wales Millennium Centre, a viable business.
External links
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.