Beginnings
After its initial start and after a series of chamber music concerts in the drawing room of the founders' house, Banks Fee, Travelling Opera, a small touring opera company, was invited to give two performances with a small orchestra on a temporary stage in the courtyard of the stable block in aid of the Sue Ryder and Dr. Barnado’s charities. A barn was then converted into a theatre, using seats from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, which were being discarded during the refurbishment of the late 1990s.
The original audience was mainly local supporters of the charities and about £3,000 was raised after costs, including donations which were divided between the two charities.
The opera evenings, with picnic interval, were very popular and there was demand to continue. Until 1998, the Festival's relationship was exclusively with Travelling Opera, whose productions of well-known operas in English were much enjoyed by the steadily increasing audience, which grew from a total of 400 in 1991 to 1,600 in 1997. Over that period, Banks Fee Opera presented many popular operas by Mozart, Rossini, Puccini, Verdi and Bizet.
Read more about this topic: Longborough Festival Opera
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