English Opera Group

The English Opera Group was a small company of British musicians formed in 1947 by the composer Benjamin Britten for the purpose of presenting his and other (primarily British) composers' operatic works.

The group's first project was to première Britten's chamber opera "Albert Herring" and give further performances of his opera "The Rape of Lucretia" during a tour of British and continental European venues. It also commissioned and premièred a new piece by Lennox Berkeley, a setting of the "Stabat Mater". Despite heavy subsidies, however, the costs of touring could not be recouped, so Britten and the group's other directors decided that the group should be based at a home venue. This was the prime reason for the inauguration of the Aldeburgh Festival in 1948.

The first opera commissioned by the group, Brian Easdale's "The Sleeping Children", was premièred in 1951. Aside from other new works by Britten, the group commissioned and produced eleven other new operas by British composers. It also gave the British première of Francis Poulenc's opera "Les mamelles de Tirésias" in 1958.__NOTOC__

English Music Theatre Company

In 1975 the group was enlarged to become the English Music Theatre Company, a company able to produce works such as operettas and musicals in addition to opera. As well as appearing at festivals such as Aldeburgh, the company undertook regional tours and yearly performance seasons at the Sadler's Wells theatre in London. After a final production of Britten's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in 1980, the company was disbanded.

Operas commissioned and premièred (not including Britten)

Prominent former members

* Janet Baker
* James Bowman
* Owen Brannigan
* Joan Cross
* Eric Crozier
* Kathleen Ferrier
* Sylvia Fisher
* Colin Graham
* Heather Harper
* Benjamin Luxon
* Peter Pears
* John Shirley-Quirk
* Robert Tear
* Jennifer Vyvyan