“Your pleasure,
our privilege”
City of Manchester Opera was originally formed in 1998. Though based in Manchester, we draw our membership from a large area of the north of England. The Company is open to anyone wishing to gain experience of opera and currently we have around thirty singers. Our membership, aged from 17 to 60 plus, comes from a broad variety of backgrounds.
Our aim is to encourage as wide a range of people as possible to access opera through our public performances. These include small concerts, larger concerts, semi-staged excerpts, concert versions of operas and full productions. All members sing as part of the company chorus but also have the opportunity to sing solo and to be part of ensemble pieces. We perform throughout the region in many of its large and small venues, in some very well-known places and some not so well known, and for a variety of people.
Our work is performed in original languages and to date has included English, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish.
Several years ago the Lord Mayor of Manchester granted us permission to use Manchester in our title to reflect the company’s strong association with the city. We feel proud to be part of its wonderful heritage.