Welcome to Opera UK

Opera UK is a vibrant new company with exciting plans for the future.

Our intentions are simply set out.

In our productions, the story will be as important as the music: the acting as important as the singing and the casting will be appropriate and believable. Not for us the large middle-aged matron playing a young girl embarking on her first love affair!

To put these aims and intentions into practice we will mount first-rate touring productions, making them accessible to audiences worldwide, in places often starved of opera.

We will also put the ‘theatre’ back into opera by concentrating on the acting as well as the music.

We will be constantly searching for new young talent - and just as Toby Robertson’s Prospect Theatre Company in the 1970’s gave Sir Ian McKellen, Dame Eileen Atkins, Sir Derek Jacobi and many others their first big break in a leading role - we shall be doing the same for our singers. Those leading roles set those actors off on their distinguished careers and now they are supporting Opera UK as we create a new ‘Prospect’ for the opera world.

Finally, we will be mounting productions especially for children, with the intention of taking opera to them at a young age, in a positive and entertaining way.

So all of us who work at Opera UK believe it will have a great future and are grateful for the encouragement we have received from so many members of the profession, as we embark on this exciting enterprise.

John Mullis

Director and Founder

Opera UK Limited is a company registered in England and Wales, number 6715084 and a Registered Charity, number 1126657

News





Opera UK is pleased to announce their next project will be an opera written especially for children called “HELLO MR DARWIN”, based on the life and work of Charles Darwin.

This opera will have a new libretto and score. Our Education Director and two of Opera UK’s singers will work closely with the children, who will sing the choruses.

This opera goes into production in five London Primary Schools in the Spring..





Opera UK recently toured Ireland and England to great acclaim with it's English language version of The Barber of Seville. Click on gallery to see the photos.





Michael O`Connor, Opera UK’s costume designer for “The Merry Widow” and Costume Consultant on their up-coming production of “The Barber of Seville” won on February 22 2009 the coveted Oscar for Best Costume Design for the film "The Duchess" following on from his Best Costume Design for the same film at the Bafta Awards earlier this month. Opera UK are delighted for Michael and his continuing support as an Artistic Associate with Opera UK.

 

We are very encouraged by the support of our patrons and friends

 

Toby Robertson OBE:

"I am more than delighted to support the work of Opera UK. As a director of many operas and in my work with the Prospect Theatre and the Old Vic Companies, I know how vital it is to nurture the talent of those with obvious gifts and to give them their first chance in a leading role. There is also nothing more exiting than working with a new and dynamic ensemble."

 

Sir Ian McKellen

"The period between a singer, or indeed any performer, finishing initial, formal training and being established, is a crucial one. I benefited hugely from the opportunities I was given by the Prospect Theatre Company, with whom I toured in large classic roles for the first time as a young actor. I've no doubt that the aims of Opera UK, to encourage young musicians in a similar way, would not only benefit the individuals concerned but the music life of the nation."

 


Sir Derek Jacobi

"I am delighted to support Opera UK in any way I can. The whole concept is very exciting and its adaptability is a great advantage. I wish you every possible success!"