English Touring Opera (ETO) is an opera company in the United Kingdom founded in 1979 under the name Opera 80 by the then-existing Arts Council of Great Britain. In 1992 the company changed to its present name. Today it is sponsored in part by Arts Council England as well as receiving support from individual and corporate sponsors, plus trusts and foundations. The company aims to bring high quality opera to areas of England that would not otherwise have ready access to such productions. From 2002 its director was James Conway, who came from the Opera Theatre of Ireland. It was announced in January 2022 that he was stepping down, and his successor was revealed in March 2022 as Robin Norton-Hale.

The company

Opera 80 itself became the successor to Opera For All, an "umbrella organization" which had planned tours by small groups which performed to piano accompaniment. David Parry became music director in 1983. ETO is a charitable organisation which seeks to stimulate access, understanding and appreciation of opera. The company has always presented operas in English and it currently tours twice each year to more venues than any other opera company in the UK, going to about 33 theatres, many of which would not normally host opera performances. These include London, Cambridge, Exeter, Poole, Cheltenham, Malvern, Crawley, Sheffield, Wolverhampton, Buxton, Durham and Perth. It is estimated that the Spring 2012 tour included "nearly 50 gigs". As James Conway notes: In Britain's economic climate of 2012, Arts Council England grants have increased by about 50% since 2002 and "English Touring Opera....will receive £1,577,015 in 2012/13, rising to £1,819,244 in 2014/15. This is expected to allow the company to sustain its current level of touring over the coming year, then to increase its programme of activity from 2012 onwards."

Productions

Artists

Singers whose early careers began with ETO often return to perform again with the company after their careers have developed further. Singers who have performed with ETO include Sarah Connolly, Mary Plazas, Sylvia O'Brien, Todd Wilander, Jonathan Veira, Paul Nilon, Alison Hagley and Susan Gritton. Amanda Echalaz has starred in productions of Così fan tutte, Alcina, Eugene Onegin and Jenůfa. ETO's and Opera 80's conductors have included Nicholas Kraemer, Ivor Bolton, Stephen Barlow, Martin André, David Parry and Michael Rosewell. It has also shown the early work of such directors as Richard Jones, Robert Carsen, Declan Donnellan and Steven Pimlott.

Productions of works outside the standard repertory

Outreach

In addition to theatre-staged operatic productions, ETO focuses on relationships with communities through education and outreach programs, and organises projects for people of all ages and abilities – from on-stage workshops to residencies in schools and performances for children with special needs. Singers and musicians on tour with the ETO often step off-stage and into the classroom of outreach workshops alongside professional animateurs. Bradley Travis is the current Artistic Associate for Learning and Participation and overseas outreach and education programs. One of ETO's outreach programs is Creative Residencies, in which young people with disabilities engage in week-long creative workshops. Between 2007 and 2009, these projects have included:

Awards

In 2004 James Conway's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream was nominated for a Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) "Best Opera" Award. James Conway's production of Donizetti's Maria Stuarda was nominated for a South Bank Show Award in 2005. ETO's projects Ice and Crossing the Styx were both nominated for an RPS Award in the Education Category in 2006. Ice was a devised opera for teenagers, and Crossing the Styx was a devised opera for primary school students. House on the Moon with the Wolverhampton Community Opera was nominated for an RPS Best Education Project award of 2007. In 2010 One Day, Two Dawns with Hall for Cornwall won the RPS Education Award. Laika the Spacedog, a new opera for children aged 7 to 11, was awarded the "David Bedford Music Education Award" in 2012. It honours outstanding music education projects, and was given by The PRS For Music Foundation. Laika the Spacedog also won two awards for Best Production at the Armel International Opera Festival in Szeged, Hungary in 2013. The Best Production award as voted for by the members of the International Competition Jury, and Best Production from the Jury of the University of Szeged. In the Spring of 2014, ETO was the winner of an Olivier Award in the "Outstanding Achievement in Opera" category]; on the Olivier Awards website, it is noted that the company won the Award for "its brave and challenging touring productions....of Michael Tippett's elegant and vibrant King Priam and Britten's rarely performed operetta Paul Bunyan. The stylishly staged pair played at the Royal Opera House's Linbury Studio Theatre in Covent Garden, London, as part of a UK tour."

2021 dismissals

In September 2021, ETO wrote to tell 13 freelance musicians that they would not be re-engaged for the upcoming tour, but that they would stay in a pool of artists to be drawn upon in the future. Some of the players had been engaged in freelance contracts year after year. The players who were not engaged for the upcoming season were mid-to-late-career musicians, when sent the letter. The freelance artists had hoped to return to work in the post-pandemic period. Zhang Zhang, a violinist with the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, asked if firing people because of their skin color is racism. Zoe Strimpel wrote that ETO's "policy race-based contracting" was a "debacle." ETO indicated its policy was based on guidance from its main funder, Arts Council England.