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
The Mistress of the Inn giocoso". In 1800 the German composer Simon Mayr and Italian librettist Gaetano Rossi adapted it as a two-act "dramma giocoso". The American composer Henry Kimball Hadley adapted it as a one-act comic opera called "Bianca", which was first performed in 1918. Bohuslav Martinů also produced an operatic version, his three-act "Mirandolina", which was first performed in 1959. The play was also adapted into several films, notably Paolo Cavara's "La locandiera" and Tinto Brass' "Miranda". The Mistress of the Inn The Mistress of the Inn ( ), also translated as "The Innkeeper Woman" or "Mirandolina" (after the play's main character), is