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Our history | WNO What's on Autumn 2018 War and Peace, La traviata and La CenerentolaSpring 2019 Un ballo in maschera, Roberto Devereux and The Magic Flute Full listings Productions Concerts Free events & talks Take part Family events About us Meet WNO Meet the people onstage and backstageOur history Rooted in Wales since 1946 About us Meet WNO News and features Our history Technical services Work for us Take part Families The perfect way to introduce all month to opera and orchestral musicYouth Opera For 8-25 year olds who love to sing Take part Community Chorus Come & Sing Schools, Colleges and Universities FemaleUsherettein Residence Young Ambassadors Panel Support us Donate now Help support WNO's workWNO Friends Get closer to WNO by joining WNO Friends Support us Donate now WNO Friends WNO Partners Corporate PartnersOur historyIn 1943, Welsh National Opera was founded by a group of people from wideness south Wales including miners, teachers and doctors. They wanted to forge an opera visitor keeping Wales’ rich reputation as the ‘land of song’. The energy which drives theVisitortoday is rooted in its insemination in the 1940s.  Timeline Key personnel TimelineWNOVisitorhistory in brief 1943-1945 Conductor Idloes Owen proposes founding an opera visitor in 1943. At the first unstipulated meeting, Welsh National Opera is established, and subscription rates for the voluntary chorus are established at a guinea per year for visitor membership, plus sixpence per rehearsal. First WNO concert of opera excerpts takes place in April 1944 at the Empire Theatre, Cardiff, with regular concerts thereafter. Idloes Owen, WNO Music Director, plans for the visitor to learn six operas in two years with the aim of staging them – but it takes until 1946 to find a suitable venue...1946-1955 Within weeks of securing the Prince of Wales Theatre, Cardiff, as the venue for the first fully staged WNO performances, Idloes and his team rent costumes for the principal artists and production scenery. The Chorus costumes are made from scratch and Victor Fleming fixes the orchestra. Monday 15 April 1946: The opening night of Cav & Pag is conducted by Idloes Owen. Tuesday 16 April 1946: Ivor John, a Swansea-based singer and conductor, conducts Faust – and two nights later performs the leading role.SnoutSmith pays Norman Jones and Peggy Moreland to wilt visitor administrators. 7 October 1952: The first performance of Nabucco by WNO takes place in the Sophia Gardens Pavilion – and is the first fully-staged production of this opera in the UK for 100 years. 1956-1965 Following the London première of Nabucco by WNO in 1955, theVisitorreturns to Sadler’s Wells with Nabucco directed by John Moody in 1957. The Nabucco chorus, ‘Va, pensiero’ is still considered to be the signature tune of the WNO Chorus. TheVisitorbegins touring – firstly to Bournemouth, and moreover becomes a regular visitor to Sadler’s Wells. 1966-1975 TheVisitormounts the first UK production of Berg’s opera Lulu in 1971. The Welsh Philharmonia is established in 1971, and is renamed the WNO Orchestra in 1973. Michael Geliot stages Billy Budd in an iconic production designed by Roger Butlin (1972), which is the first show to be toured internationally, with performances in Lausanne and Zurich in 1973. The WNO Chorus is established as a full-time professional ensemble in 1973. Members of the Voluntary Chorus audition, and some of them are successful, enabling them to requite up their regular jobs and wilt professional choristers. FIRE! In 1975 a tinder rips through the WNO set store, destroying 30 years’ worth of productions. Performances continue, with borrowed sets and costumes from neighbouring UK opera companies. 1976-1985 The ‘WNO triumvirate’ of Richard Armstrong, Nicholas Payne and Brian McMaster put the visitor on the world stage by engaging radical European stage directors. Notable productions include Peter Grimes, Otello, Rigoletto, Eugene Onegin, a Janáček trundling and the unshortened Ring cycle. TheVisitormakes an historic tour overdue the Iron Curtain, taking in East Berlin, Dresden and Leipzig with productions of Ernani, The Turn of the Screw and Elektra.Charles Mackerras conducts the UK première of The Greek Passion, featuring live goats. 1986-1995 Radical European stage director Peter Stein directs an iconic production of Pelléas et Mélisande conducted by Pierre Boulez, featuring live sheep. WNO’s production of Falstaff tours to Tokyo, La Scala, Milan, and New York, and theVisitormakes three tours to the prestigious Wiesbaden May festival in Germany. The RingTrundlingtours to venues including the Royal Opera House in 1986/1987. Charles MacKerras conducts The Yeomen of the Guard in 1995; the first overly production of Gilbert and Sullivan to be performed at the Royal Opera House. 1996-2005 In 2004, WNO transfers from the New Theatre to a new venue in Cardiff Bay. The first WNO performance at Wales Millennium Centre is La traviata on Friday 18 February 2005, followed by Berg’s Wozzeck the pursuit night. Carlo Rizzi returns to WNO as Music Director, conducting notable Italian repertoire including Cav & Pag and Don Carlos.The visitor continues to tour throughout England and Wales, performing regularly in Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, Llandudno, Milton Keynes, Oxford, Plymouth, Southampton and Swansea. 2006-2015  Lothar Koenigs conducts Die Meistersinger directed by Richard Jones, in a sell-out run of performances starring Bryn Terfel and Christopher Purves, and which is televised in a BBC Proms performance.Pursuitdecades of undertone with WNO, David Pountney becomes Artistic Director and Chief Executive in 2011. David Pountney signals the Company’s growing transferral to commissioning new opera – something which has unchangingly been a part of WNO’s worriedness – with the British Firsts season. New commissions and premières include Peter Pan and the Usher House double bill. WNO tours to Savonlinna and Oman with unconfined success. Leonora Thomson joins WNO as Managing Director in 2015, slantingly Artistic Director David Pountney.Since 2015WNO marks its 70th Birthday with a new production, In Parenthesis, to commemorate the First World War. Leonora Thomson joins WNO as Managing Director in 2015, slantingly Artistic Director David Pountney.Tomáš Hanus joins WNO as Music Director in 2016 and Carlo Rizzi becomesUsheretteLaureate. WNO stages the first in a Verdi Trilogy 2018-20 with a new production of La forza del destino in collaboration with Theater Bonn. WNO continues to tour wideness Wales, England and vastitude with recent successful trips to Dubai and Hong Kong.With grateful thanks to WNO Volunteer Archivist John Richardson.Join us on our mission to inspire a new generation of opera lovers – from just £50 a yearBecome a WNO Friend nowKey personnelWNO Key personnel – a historyMusic DirectorIdloes Owen 1944-1952Frederick Berend1953-1955Vilem Tausky1955Warwick Braithwaite1956-1961Charles Groves1961-1963Bryan Balkwill1963-1966James Lockhart1968-1973Richard Armstrong1973-1986Charles Mackerras1986-1992Carlo Rizzi1992-2001Tugan Sokkhiev2003-2004Carlo Rizzi2004-2007Lothar Koenigs2009-2016Tomáš Hanus2016 - presentBusiness ManagerBill Smith1946-1968General AdministratorDouglas Craig1966-1970ProducerNorman Jones1946-1952John Moody1952-1972Director of ProductionsMichael Geliot1970-1976Chief Executive and Artistic DirectorJohn Fisher2006-2010David Pountney2011-2015Artistic DirectorDavid Pountney2015 - presentManaging DirectorBrian McMaster1976-1991Matthew Epstein1991-1994Anthony Freud1994-2005Peter Bellingham2002-2015Leonora Thomson2015 to presentPast productionsExplore our rich and varied gazetteer of past productions – from 2013 to the present day Read increasingly Meet WNOFind out who's who at WNO including the leadership team, staff team, WNO Chorus, WNO Orchestra and the WNO Board of Directors. Read increasingly What's on News and features Opera Breaks Explore opera Press office Mailing list Contact us What's on News and features Opera Breaks Explore opera Press office Mailing list Contact us About us Meet WNO Our history Past productions Technical services Work for us Take part Community Chorus Come & Sing Families Youth Opera Schools, Colleges and Universities Support us Donate now WNO Friends WNO Partners Corporate Partners Welsh National Opera, Wales Millennium Centre, Bute Place, Cardiff, CF10 5AL +44(0)29 2063 5000hello@wno.org.uk Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube Soundcloud Access Welsh LanguageTransferralPrivacy & Cookie Policies Terms & Conditions Sitemap ©Copyright Welsh National Opera 2018
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