English Touring Opera
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English Touring Opera (ETO) is an opera company in the United Kingdom.
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[edit] Origins and scope
ETO was founded in 1979 as Opera 80, a touring company intended to bring high quality opera to areas of England that normally would not have access to opera productions. In 1992 the company changed its name to English Touring Opera. It currently tours to more venues than any other opera company in the UK. Its General Director (since 2001) is James Conway.
[edit] Productions
James Conway's production of Donizetti's Mary Queen of Scots was nominated for a South Bank Show Award in 2005. Directors who have previously mounted productions for ETO include Steven Pimlott, Richard Jones and Robert Carsen.
In the autumn of 2006, ETO mounted a baroque opera festival featuring Handel's Tolomeo, Claudio Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, Francesco Cavalli's L'Erismena, Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and Giacomo Carissimi's oratorio Jephte, plus over 40 complementary events in twelve venues throughout the UK.
James Conway's special interest in baroque opera is also in evidence in English Touring Opera's 2007 season, with productions of Handel's Teseo and Haydn's L'infedeltà delusa.
In spring 2008, ETO is touring three operas in repertory: Don Giovanni, Anna Bolena and Susannah, and in the autumn will present Rusalka and Peter Brook's La tragédie de Carmen.
[edit] Artists
ETO prides itself in developing the careers of young artists, many of whom (for example Sarah Connolly, Mary Plazas, Jonathan Veira and Susan Gritton) now have established careers with major companies. Amanda Echalaz has starred in ETO's productions of Cosi Fan Tutte, Eugene Onegin and Jenufa.
