Welcome to York Opera

York Opera is York’s leading amateur opera company. Each year we produce a number of operas, operettas and concerts, including some for charity. Our singers are from all over Yorkshire, and are occasionally even recruited internationally!

We sing for pleasure – of ourselves and our audiences – and to critical acclaim. Recent reviews have commented on both the quality of the performances and the enjoyment given to our audiences (see our past productions page).

Our Current Production

On May 16-17^th we will be in the York Guildhall, performing a double bill of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, and extracts from Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. Rehearsals started in mid-Janaury for Carmina Burana. Booking is available either from members, or through the Theatre Royal.

On 1st June, we will be performing a concert of opera highlights as part of the Filey Town Festival.

In October we will be returning to the Theatre Royal from 23^rd to 26^th, presenting Verdi's Nabucco. Audition information is now available here. Chorus rehearsals will start on Thursday 6^th June, 7:30 at Lidgett Grove Methodist Church.

Scene from our 2009 production of Macbeth.

Go Compare!

The latest recruit for our top tenors!

From the Haxby Scarecrow Festival.

Past Productions

For Christmas 2012 we performed a concert at The National Centre for Early Music. This was a celebration of UK carols and traditions marking the Jubilee and Olympics.

In November 2012 we were the Theatre Royal in York for a production of Iolanthe - Gilbert and Sullivan's satire of politics and law. The House of Lords is lampooned as a bastion of the ineffective, privileged and dim-witted, while the Lord Chancellor sings that he will "work on a new and original plan" that the rule (which holds true in other professions, such as the military, the church and even the stage) that diligence, honesty, honour, and merit should lead to promotion "might apply to the bar".

From April to June this year York Opera presented a series of concerts in various venues in and around York, Ryedale and Scarborough. The Company performed a selection of well-known opera choruses and over 20 of the group's soloists from various parts of Yorkshire and Humberside took part in some or all of the concerts. These included Sopranos Sharon Nicholson-Skeggs, Heather Watts and Hilary Dyson; Mezzos Becky Smith, Cathy Atkin and Rosy Jamieson; Tenors Karl Reiff and Hamish Brown; and Basses/Baritones Ian Thompson-Smith, Clive Goodhead and Steve Griffiths. Musical Director for all the concerts was Alasdair Jamieson and piano accompaniment by Tim Tozer.

Our Patron

We are pleased that Sir Thomas Allen is the patron of York Opera. You can read all about this distinguished singer here.