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
Claire Gibault "West Side Story". She has also conducted "Pelléas et Mélisande" (Covent Garden, London), "Le Comte Ory" (Glyndebourne Festival), "Cosi fan tutte" (Opera North), Chabrier's "L'étoile" (Edinburgh Festival), "Zaïde" and "Der Schauspieldirektor" (Bastille), "L'Enfant et les Sortilèges" (Châtelet), Boîeldieu's "La Dame Blanche" (Opéra-Comique, Paris), "Mitridate", "La Donna del lago", "Die Zauberflöte", "Le Nozze di Figaro" and "Bastien und Bastienne" (Nice), "La Clemenza di Tito" (Orléans), "La Traviata" (Nancy), "Idomeneo" and "Cosi fan tutte" (Liège), "Maria Stuarda" (Torino), "La Cenerentola" (Rome) and "Les Oiseaux de passage" (Bologna). She was Claudio Abbado's assistant for "Pelléas et Mélisande" at the Royal Opera House, La