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
Janko Kastelic In 2002 he won the position as an assistant in the Vienna State Opera, where he also conducted performances of "Das Traumfresserchen", "Aladdin" and "Bastien und Bastienne". He has prepared works for the Klangbogen Festival Vienna and the Salzburger Festspiele and was the conductor of the TU Orchester Wien, where he led novel orchestra concerts focusing on French and Classical repertoire. He was responsible for the demanding choruses in "Moses und Aron" by Arnold Schoenberg at the Vienna State Opera in March 2007. In 2008 he conducted performances of "Die Fledermaus" by Johann Strauss at the Musik Theater Schönbrunn in