The London Opera Centre, a school for the training of opera singers and other opera professionals, existed in England between 1963 and 1978. It was located in the former
Troxy
Troxy is a Grade II-listed Art Deco music venue on Commercial Road in Stepney, London. Built as a cinema in 1933, it closed in 1960 and became a training school for the London Opera Centre. In the 1980s the building was used as a bingo hall, an ...
Cinema on Commercial Road in London's East End Borough of Stepney (now
Tower Hamlets
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough covering much of the traditional East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former metropolitan boroughs of Stepney, Poplar, and Bethnal Green. 'Tower Hamlets' was originally ...
). The Troxy, with 3,520 seats, opened in 1933 and was one of England's largest cinemas. As a result of wartime damage and the general decline of the area, the cinema closed in November 1960.
The English singer
Joan Cross
Joan Cross (7 September 1900 – 12 December 1993) was an English soprano, closely associated with the operas of Benjamin Britten. She also sang in the Italian and German operatic repertoires. She later became a musical administrator, taking on ...
, an important figure in British opera at
Sadler's Wells
Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue in Clerkenwell, London, England located on Rosebery Avenue next to New River Head. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500-sea ...
, who guided the company through the Second World War, and others had formed the National School of Opera in 1948, but its impact was limited due to little or no language teaching or technical stagecraft. (Nonetheless, its alumni included many successful artists such as
Ava June,
Marie Collier
Marie Elizabeth Collier (16 April 19278 December 1971) was an Australian operatic soprano.
Marie Collier was born in Ballarat, Victoria, to Thomas Robinson Collier (1894–1962), a railway employee, and his wife Annie Marie (née Bechaz). Sh ...
,
Inia Te Wiata
Inia Morehu Tauhia Watene Iarahi Waihurihia Te Wiata (10 June 191526 June 1971) was a New Zealand Māori bass-baritone opera singer, film actor, whakairo (carver) and artist.
Early life
Inia Te Wiata was born in Ōtaki, New Zealand, into the ...
,
Johanna Peters,
April Cantelo
April Rosemary Cantelo (born 2 April 1928) is an English soprano.
Life and career
Cantelo was born in Purbrook, Hampshire in 1928. She attended Chelmsford County High School for Girls. She studied in London under Vilém Tauský, Joan Cross, I ...
and the D'Oyly Carte's
Kenneth Sandford
Kenneth Sandford (28 June 1924 – 19 September 2004) was an English singer and actor, best known for his performances in baritone roles of the Savoy Operas of Gilbert and Sullivan.
After service the Royal Air Force during World War II, San ...
.)
By 1963, the
Arts Council of Great Britain
The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council (l ...
had provided a £27,900 grant to set up the London Opera Centre to provide musical and dramatic training to young voice students who were offered two-year scholarships. It was to be located in the Troxy and managed out of the
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Ope ...
as a rehearsal space as well as an opera school. Among the most famous of the former students was the
soprano
A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...
Dame
Kiri Te Kanawa
Dame Kiri Jeanette Claire Te Kanawa , (; born Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron, 6 March 1944) is a retired New Zealand opera singer. She had a full lyric soprano voice, which has been described as "mellow yet vibrant, warm, ample and unforced". Te ...
who was offered an opportunity to study there between 1966 and 1968 after winning a major vocal competition in New Zealand. In addition, the Centre was used for other aspects of stagecraft and technical training, scenery construction and storage. A 500-seat theatre was created in the balcony for occasional performances, although rehearsal needs tended to take precedence over the Centre's needs for its own student performances.
While on the Board of the Centre, Joan Cross and others resigned a year later because they did not feel that the association with the Royal Opera House benefited the Centre. Gradually, several factors caused dissatisfaction with the Centre's activities, its high cost and remote location being the most important ones. By the time the lease came up for renewal in July 1977, the Opera House was willing to abandon the Troxy in favour of a smaller
National Opera Studio
The National Opera Studio in London, England was established in 1977 by the Arts Council as a link between the music colleges and the six main UK opera companies. It was resident at Morley College in Lambeth until 2003, when it gained use for t ...
at the Opera House itself. This was set up in 1978 under the opera singer
Michael Langdon
Michael Langdon CBE (12 November 192012 March 1991) was a British bass opera singer.
Langdon was born in Wolverhampton. He had six half brothers and sisters, the youngest, Maud being 19 years his senior. His father, Harry (birth name Frank Bi ...
.
References
Bibliography
* Gilbert, Susie and Shir, Jay, ''A Tale of Four Houses: Opera at Covent Garden, La Scala, Vienna and the Met since 1945'', London: HarperCollinsPublishers, 2003
{{Authority control
Opera in London
Performing arts education in London
Educational institutions established in 1963
Educational institutions disestablished in 1977
1963 establishments in England