Surrey Opera is a semi-professional

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

opera company based in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extens ...

, providing opera in Surrey, Sussex and Kent. The company offers opportunity to emerging professional opera singers, providing the opportunity to work with professional directors, musicians, designers and the Surrey Opera Chorus. Alumni of Surrey Opera include known singers Peter Sidhom, Russell Smythe,

Susan Gritton Susan Gritton (born 31 August 1965) is an English operatic soprano. She was the 1994 winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award and has sung leading roles in a wide-ranging repertoire from Handel and Mozart to Britten, Janáček and Strauss. Life an ...

and David Soar. While opera forms the majority of its repertoire, the company also performs operettas,

musical Musical is the adjective of music Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact def ...

s and soirées. The company premiered the rediscovered

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (15 August 18751 September 1912) was a British composer and conductor. Of mixed race, mixed-race birth, Coleridge-Taylor achieved such success that he was referred to by white New York musicians as the "African Gu ...

opera ''Thelma'' in 2012, and in 2017 staged the world premiere of ''The Life To Come'', by Louis Mander and

Stephen Fry Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starrin ...

Company history

Surrey Opera was founded by the late Joyce Hooper MBE in 1969. The company's first production was

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

's ''

The Magic Flute ''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a '' Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that inc ...

'', performed in the Market Hall,

Redhill, Surrey Redhill () is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead within the county of Surrey, England. The town, which adjoins the town of Reigate to the west, is due south of Croydon in Greater London, and is part of the London commuter belt. The ...

in June 1970. Over the years, productions of all Mozart's major operas followed, as well works by other composers. In 1976, conductor

Jonathan Butcher Jonathan may refer to: *Jonathan (name), a masculine given name Media * ''Jonathan'' (1970 film), a German film directed by Hans W. Geißendörfer * ''Jonathan'' (2016 film), a German film directed by Piotr J. Lewandowski * ''Jonathan'' (2018 ...

took over as Artistic Director, and has been at the helm ever since. Surrey Opera have gained a reputation for staging new or re-discovered operas such as the world premiere of ''Thelma'' by

and ''Iernin'' by George Lloyd, not staged since its premiere in 1934. Their second world premiere production, ''The Life to Come'' was staged in September 2017. Composed by Louis Mander to libretto by

, it was based on

E.M.Forster Edward Morgan Forster (1 January 1879 – 7 June 1970) was an English author, best known for his novels, particularly ''A Room with a View'' (1908), ''Howards End'' (1910), and ''A Passage to India'' (1924). He also wrote numerous short stori ...

's short story "

The Life to Come "The Life to Come" is a short story by English writer E. M. Forster, written in 1922 and published posthumously in '' The Life to Come (and Other Stories)'' in 1972. It was written into four chapters: Night, Evening, Day and Morning. In 2017, ...

". Their third world premiere production, Madeleine, was commissioned by Surrey Opera for its 50th anniversary in 2020 from composer David Hackbridge Johnson, based on the true story of

Madeleine Smith Madeleine Hamilton Smith (29 March 1835 – 12 April 1928) was a 19th-century Glasgow socialite who was the accused in a sensational murder trial in Scotland in 1857. Background Smith was the first child (of five) of an upper-middle-class ...

. Its performance was delayed until 2021 because of the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

pandemic. They performed, in May 2023, the UK premiere of ''Sense & Sensibility, the Musical'' (book and lyrics by Jeffrey Haddow and music by Neal Hampton), based on the novel

Sense_and_Sensibility ''Sense and Sensibility'' is a novel by Jane Austen, published in 1811. It was published anonymously; ''By A Lady'' appears on the title page where the author's name might have been. It tells the story of the Dashwood sisters, Elinor (age 19) ...

by Jane_Austen. In 2016 Surrey Opera performed for the

Prince Of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rule ...

and the

Duchess of Cornwall Duchess of Cornwall is a courtesy title held by the wife of the eldest son and heir of the British monarch. The current title-holder is Catherine, wife of William, Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall. Duchesses of Cornwall Until her husband' ...

Minack Theatre The Minack Theatre ( kw, Gwaryjy Minack) is an open-air theatre, constructed above a gully with a rocky granite outcrop jutting into the sea. The theatre is at Porthcurno, from Land's End in Cornwall, England. The season runs each year from Ma ...

in Cornwall.

Past productions

Notes and references

External links

Official website

Biography of Jonathan Butcher
on OperaTalent.com {{authority control British opera companies Musical groups established in 1969