University College Opera The brainchild of the conductor Anthony Addison, (UCL's then Director of Music), University College Opera gave its first performance in 1951 with an all-student production of Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas", followed by Mozart's "Bastien und Bastienne". Even in its earliest years, the company's annual repertoire concentrated on rarely performed operas including: Nicolai's "The Merry Wives of Windsor" (1952), Bizet's "Don Procopio" (1955) and Lortzing's "Der Wildschütz" (1958). In 1961, the company staged its first UK premiere, Moniuszko's "Halka". During its first 17 years, UCOpera's performances took place in the old gymnasium at University College. With the opening of the college's
Pepita Jiménez (opera) opera. The Spanish musicologist and conductor José de Eusebio has assembled and recorded a critical edition of Albéniz's 1905 version. The "Penguin Guide" writes about this recording that the opera's "many attractive qualities are clear. ...the writing in a gently Spanish idiom has plenty of colour in the orchestration. ... Vivid sound." Albéniz: "Pepita Jiménez" – Orquesta y Coro de la Comunidad de Madrid Pepita Jiménez (opera) Pepita Jiménez is a lyric comedy or comic opera with music written by the Spanish composer Isaac Albéniz. The original opera was written in one act and used an English libretto by Albéniz's