Birmingham Opera Company

Birmingham Opera Company works at the heart of its local community to bring great operas to life.

Birmingham Opera Company (formerly known as the City of Birmingham Touring Opera) is a new kind of company which, building on accumulated experience and success, plays an active role in the regeneration of its home city. Community involvement and involvement in the community is the basis of the company's policy. Local people have the chance to observe, comment and question the whole process of creating an opera production. Performed in English, the productions are specifically conceived to involve members of the community at every level, including performing alongside world class singers and musicians. Staging its productions away from conventional opera houses and theatres, the company offers opera at an affordable price without compromising quality.

The first production under the new banner (2001) was Berg's Votzek, which took place in a warehouse in Birmingham. This highly successful production then toured to Sheffield, Liverpool and Portugal later in the year.

This year's large scale production was Beethoven's Fidelio. Over 200 local people were involved in the project. The setting was an enormous Big Top within the grounds of Aston Hall, Birmingham, in the shadow of Aston Villa FC. Fidelio was broadcast on BBC4 and a South Bank Show documentary about the project was broadcast in November 2002.

With any community opera the vital question is who is it for: those performing or those paying to watch? Where Vick is concerned, the resounding answer is both.
The Guardian
 List events
 Search for news stories

Key staff
Name	Title/Function
Graham Vick	Artistic Director
Simon Halsey	Principal Conductor
Jean Nicholson**	General Manager
** main contact