London Youth Opera (LYO) is an independent opera company in London which produces operas performed by young people aged 9 to 18. Founded in 1971, and previously known as W11 Opera and W11 Children's Opera, it took its former name from its location in W11, a postal district in West London consisting largely of Notting Hill and parts of Holland Park. It changed to its current name[1][2] in 2023.[3]

Almost all of the productions are new works created by composers such as George Fenton, John Gardner, Richard Harvey, Colin Towns and Timothy Kraemer. Some of these works go on to be revived by schools and other opera companies.

Notable alumni of the company include Eve Best, Jonathan Antoine and Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

Works commissioned and premiered

W11/LYO has commissioned and produced almost 40 new operas, more than any other UK company, providing a repertoire of music theatre for its cast of 9- to 18-year-olds. Each has a running time of just over one hour. Most of the group's commissions are available for performance by schools and music theatre groups.[4]

Note: * not an LYO/W11 Opera commission; + denotes commission revivals

References

  1. ^ "LYO ~ London Youth Opera". LYO ~ London Youth Opera. Retrieved 2024-02-01.
  2. ^ "London Youth Opera - Charity 282644". register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk. Retrieved 2024-02-01.
  3. ^ Hugill, Planet. "Pandora's Box: great tunes, a neat moral, energetic performances, London Youth Opera premieres Stuart Hancock & Donald Sturrock's new opera". Retrieved 2024-02-01.
  4. ^ "Archive". 2022-10-06. Archived 2022-10-06 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2024-02-01.