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Royal Opera, London - This article is about the opera company. There is a separate article about the venue which it shares with The Royal Ballet: see Royal Opera House.
The Royal Opera is London and the United Kingdom's most famous and wealthiest opera company. Generally it is also the most artistically important, although some of its productions disappoint, and other British opera companies sometimes receive better reviews. It is however, the only British opera company which regularly features the world's most famous opera singers. It is one of the two principal tenants of London's leading lyric theatre, the Royal Opera House, alongside The Royal Ballet. It performs operas in their original language and relies on guest artists to play the principal roles in all performances. This is in contrast to the other permanent opera company in London, the English National Opera, which performs in English and has contracted singers. Establishment The Royal Opera shares the "Orchestra of the Royal Opera House", which is a permanent orchestra of full symphony orchestra size, with the Royal Ballet. It has its own permanent chorus with over forty five singers: the Royal Opera Chorus. A third group of musicians on salary are the members of the "Vilar Young Artists Programme", who receive advanced professional training. They are not students as the term is usually understood as most of them have performed professionally at opera houses of some standing before previously, but the programme is intended to accelerate their careers by gaining experience at one of the world's leading opera companies. The programme lasts for two years, with a new intake each summer. Most of the "Young Artists" are singers, but they also include conductors, rptiteurs and stage directors. History The Royal Opera House and the earlier theatres on the same site had staged opera intermittently since the 18th century (see the Royal Opera House article), but the history of the present opera company begins after World War II. The Royal Opera House reopened after on February 20, 1946 with a performance of The Sleeping Beauty in an extravagant new production designed by Oliver Messel. There was no opera company suitable for transfer to the Royal Opera House, but Webster, with his music director Karl Rankl, immediately began to build a comparable resident company. In December, 1946, they shared their first production, Purcell's The Fairy Queen, with the ballet company. On January 14, 1947 the Covent Garden Opera Company gave its first performance of Bizet's Carmen. Music directors of the Royal Opera External link The Royal Opera House's official site - covers the Royal Ballet as well.
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