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 New Opera Theatre with I Cantori di New York, "Dido and Æneas", with Thaïs St Julien as Dido and Susannah Waters as Belinda, with Bart Folse conducting. The production was first seen at New York City's Symphony Space, then in New Orleans. In 1989, The NOT presented the New Orleans premiere of "Pelléas et Mélisande" (with Tracey Mitchell as Mélisande), which was followed by "Bastien und Bastienne", and the world-premiere of Dr LaBruyère's "Everyman", after the mediaeval Morality Play. The New Opera Theatre's final presentation was of a Benefit Concert, in the fall of 1989, featuring Natalia Rom. Folse and Morgan went on