Edinburgh Grand Opera was Scotland's oldest existing grand opera company, founded in 1955 by Richard Telfer. [1] [2] This society was run by its non-professional chorus with advice and support from the professional Artistic and Musical Directors and Designers it engaged. It was originally known as the Edinburgh Grand Opera Group, and it has also been referred to as Edinburgh Grand Opera Company. Its soloists were a mixture of amateur, semi-professional and professional singers from Scotland and abroad, many of whom were students or graduates from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (previously the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Dance). It was the first amateur company to perform at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre. [3]
On 10 April 2023, the Society gave notice to the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator that it wished to wind up, having emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic with no sponsorship or grants to offset its costs. Membership had become so low that the EGO was unable to form a committee to continue the company's operations. [4]
The original honorary patrons of the Edinburgh Grand Opera Group were Professor Sidney Newman, Sir Alexander Drummond Gibson and Lady Erskine-Hill. [5]
Edinburgh Grand Opera's patrons in 2015 were international opera singers Ian Storey, Donald Maxwell and Frances McCafferty who all sang with Edinburgh Grand Opera early in their careers; conductor and chorus master Christopher Bell who was musical director for many shows.
Musical directors and conductors have included Michael Moores, Alexander Gibson, John Grundy, Christopher Bell, Leslie Shankland, [6] Richard Lewis, Neil Metcalfe, [7] Susannah Wapshott, [8] Alistair Digges.
Artistic and stage directors have included Cathie Boyd, Richard Telfer, Gerard Mulgrew, James Ross, Ben Twist, Andy Fraser, Adrian Osmond, Rita Henderson, John Binnie, Mark Hathaway, Michael Richardson, [7] Christina Dunwoodie, Kally Lloyd-Jones. [8]
Performances include fully staged and semi-staged operas, as well as gala concerts and other fundraising musical events in theatres and concert halls in Edinburgh and nearby towns and cities. The company usually sings in the language in which the libretto was originally written. The season runs from September each year. The list below shows performances in Edinburgh, unless otherwise stated.
Edinburgh Grand Opera was a Scottish registered charity, no. SC003143.
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