Pimlico Opera

Pimlico Opera, a small scale touring company, was established in 1987 by Wasfi Kani OBE.  There are two strands to its work: an autumn tour, and an annual prison project.  The Company provides valuable performing experience for younger artists in a national tour which is funded by the Arts Council and landmark touring productions include the first British performance of Shostakovich's musical comedy Cheryomushki, a satire on life in a 1950's Moscow housing estate which was the subject of a BBC documentary and nominated for a BAFTA award.

In addition to the annual tour the company spends six weeks a year working inside Her Majesty's Prisons culminating in public performances of a musical in which inmates share the stage with professionals.  The company has worked with almost one thousand prisoners and taken more than 25,000 members of the public into prison as audience members.

It was a really entertaining show.  While we watched, we forgot where we were.  We returned to reality when the house lights came up on a row of warders flanking the stalls.  We filed out through the electronic fingerprint reader, deeply moved by the evening's experience.
The New Statesman

an exciting opportunity for prisoners to demonstrate their talents to a wider audience
HMP Bronzefield
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Key staff
Name	Title/Function
Wasfi Kani	Chief Executive
Helen Sennett**	Company Manager
** main contact