Opera Babes - Background and History

Background and History

The Opera Babes met in Cambridge while performing Mozart's The Magic Flute in a touring opera company. England studied at Leeds University and London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Knight, whose mother is the opera singer Gillian Knight, wrote for children's television early in her career. Both women have performed with the English touring company Opera della Luna and at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival. They began busking together in 2001 on London's Covent Garden, where they were first spotted and were signed for their first album by Sony. They became famous for singing "Un bel dì vedremo" ("One fine day we shall see" from the opera Madame Butterfly), the song that ITV used for their World Cup 2002 programmes, at the FA Cup final and at the UEFA Champions League final in Milan. Knight explained the group's strategy to BBC News as follows: "e have tried to maintain the classical integrity while making these things more appealing to a wider audience."

The Opera Babes released their first album, Beyond Imagination in 2002 (ranking #1 on the UK Classical Chart for eleven weeks, and #4 on the US Billboard Classical Crossover Albums chart. In addition to the "One Fine Day" track being selected as the World Cup 2002 theme by ITV, British Airways chose another of the tracks, "Lakme H2O", a "stylish re-imagining of the Flower Duet from Lakmé", for a commercial. One reviewer wrote: "If you're a young individual with a remote interest in the classical genre, this disc is the perfect introduction". The artists soon had a falling out with their producer, SonyBMG, which asked them to concentrate on studio work, rather than performing live. "We were originally discovered busking ... so I would have thought it was obvious that we loved performing live, yet Sony weren't interested", said Karen England. The Opera Babes' second album, Renaissance, another classical and "crossover" collection, was released in 2006 by Instant Karma UK. Swansea's Home Front magazine wrote, "Renaissance is really superb. Tracks include 'Casta Diva', 'Pie Jesu,' 'Clair de Lune,' and Stephen Sondheim's 'Send in the Clowns'.... If you only buy one classical album, buy this one!"

The Opera Babes have performed in concert with orchestras such as the Philharmonia, the Halle, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Concert Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, among others. They also performed for Queen Elizabeth II at the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall, the launch of the Commonwealth Games at Buckingham Palace, and Proms at the Palace for the Queen's Jubilee celebrations. They have also performed at the Los Angeles Opera House with Plácido Domingo, and were the first British classical act to perform in Las Vegas. They have performed on GMTV, Des & Mel, Good Morning America and Fox and Friends. The Opera Babes have also been the subject of three UK documentaries and one U.S. documentary.

The Opera Babes' 2006 "Renaissance" concert toured songs from both of their albums performed with multi-media special effects and visuals, as well as dancers costumed by designer Elizabeth Emanuel. In December 2006, they were featured on the UK's Songs of Praise programme recorded at Lichfield Cathedral. In the spring of 2007, they continued to tour in the UK and the US, and then the group took a break while Karen England had a baby. The group resumed touring in 2008.

Since 2005, the Opera Babes have been Ambassadors of SOS Children's Villages, an international orphan charity providing homes and mothers for orphaned and abandoned children.