The Surprising Success Story of Opera in London

BOOKING FOR THIS EVENT IS EXPECTED TO OPEN IN AUGUST

This Discovery Day charts how five of London’s most famous theatres have, in their own significant ways, been fundamental to the remarkable success of Opera in London over more than three centuries.

In the first lecture we trace its beginnings at the Theatres Royal of The Haymarket and Covent Garden, where Opera takes 18th Century London by storm. 

In our second lecture we discover Opera still alive and well - in the slums of Waterloo, where in 1897 the ever-resourceful Lilian Baylis, finding herself with a vast Music Hall to run, acquired a theatre licence and put on Opera for the masses.

After lunch we follow the fortunes of Lilian’s company (now English National Opera) back across the river, first to Sadler’s Wells and eventually, in 1978, to their current home the London Coliseum, where Opera is pitched into the turbulent history of London’s largest and most volatile theatre. 

Life at the Coliseum has always been boom or bust, and English National Opera always reacts to this the same way. Come cuts in funding, partial relocation or disastrous reviews, ENO always counters with magnificent singing, great shows and sheer chutzpah. After 300 years, Opera is still looking good in London.