‘My Butterfly Will Not Die!’ Why has Puccini remained so popular?

This spring season, English Touring Opera performs Giacomo Puccini’s Il tabarro & Gianni Schicchi all around the United Kingdom. Along with the two selections from Il Trittico (1918), this great Italian composer has written some of the world’s most popular operas: La bohème (1896), Tosca (1900), Madama Butterfly (1904), and the famously unfinished Turandot (1926). Resident […]

Don’t Myth a Thing: 10 Opera Myths Debunked

What is it that puts people off of opera? The price, the accessibility…? Let’s set this record straight, and debunk the 10 most common myths about opera: 1. ‘Opera is Expensive’ I have done my research on this, and a ticket to the opera is usually no more than a ticket to go and see […]

Let’s Get Wiggy With It: How and Why Wigs Still Inspire Opera Today

This blog is going to explore why wigs are still important in opera, and what different stylings of wigs may signify.

Five Things You Need To Know About Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro

What is the first thing you think of when you hear the word marriage? Love? Companionship? A rather stressful ‘big day’? Well, you’re in luck, because Mozart’s popular comic opera, The Marriage of Figaro offers all of that, plus even more twists and turns.

‘This Woman’s Work’ – Top 10 Influential Women Composers

Although in more recent years, women composers have been more recognised for their efforts within the classical music world, there is still an overwhelming amount of forgotten women composers. With a large amount of classical music concerts and music education focusing solely on the output of the ‘great’ male composers, there is often very little, […]

The ‘Men Behind the Music’

The composer becomes glorified for his works, a compositional God among men, as it were. And often, through this glorification of the composer and their music in the modern world, we often forget to tell the endearing, unexpected and humorous stories that make up each composer’s unique personality.

Highlights from Gilbert and Sullivan’s Patience

Timothy Burke, conductor of Patience, talks what to listen out for in Gilbert and Sullivan’s comedic masterpiece. On Such Eyes As Maidens Cherish Sullivan writes such beautiful and lyrical music to depict the world of the ‘Lovesick Maidens’ who lounge around feeling heartbroken and thinking of faint lilies. The surprising harmonies at the beginning of this […]

Music for the Masses

Our part of the score, with my annotations above the score line on how it should be performed on the day. My head is still stuffed with the most wonderful music today, so it’s time to take a break from my usual bloggage. On Sunday I sang the chorales in Bach’s St John Passion at […]

ETO Podcast, Episode 2: A virtual tour of our rehearsal rooms

In this second podcast, staff director Will Edelsten and marketing manager Andrea Perseu take you around ETO’s rehearsal rooms in London’s Bermondsey, just before the start of the day’s rehearsals. Listen to this episode here.

ETO Podcast, Episode 1: Help us choose a new name

ETO’s staff director Will Edelsten and marketing manager Andrea Perseu introduce our first podcast for this season. Featuring contributions from all the ETO team on what Venice means to them, and a conversation with ETO’s general director James Conway on the operas in the season. Plus, help us find a new name for the podcast […]