The Formation of The Company
The Company was founded in Cardiff by Idloes Owen (1894–1954). He was born in Wales and after developing his talent at Music College, became a composer, arranger and conductor. He performed with the pre-war Lyrian Singers in Cardiff, and consideredto be one of the finest singing teachers in Wales, Geraint Evans was one of his pupils.
In November 1943, together with a small group of music lovers, he was instrumental in forming 'The Lyrian Grand Opera Company'. A month later at its first general meeting the name was changed to The Welsh National Opera Company. It was formed from members of the old Cardiff Grand Opera Company, the BBC Welsh Singers and the Lyrian Singers. The company gave early performances in 1945 with concerts and operatic excerpts at various venues in Cardiff. The first full season of opera came after the war, in April 1946, at the Prince of Wales Theatre, Cardiff. Idloes Owen as Musical Director conducted the first performance of Cavalleria Rusticana, which included the Welsh tenor Robert Tear who started his career as a schoolboy in this performance.
In 1948 the Welsh National Opera became a limited company and established another centre in Swansea. In January 1950 Owen invited an astute businessman, Bill Smith, a former secretary of the defunct Cardiff Grand Opera, to be his partner to develop the potential of the new company. Smith immediately responded by booking the young Charles Mackerras as conductor to take charge of The Tales of Hoffman that season. In 1951 the company made its first tour of Wales, giving performances in Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire, and Llandudno, Denbighshire. They shared a passion to make the WNO stand comparison with any other opera company in the world, and in 1952 they staged Verdi's Nabucco, which, with its Biblical story, needed a superb chorus. Verdi’s third opera was ideal for WNO, and it was the company's first in-house production. In April 1953 they toured with it for their first performances outside Wales, opening at the Bournemouth Pavilion.
By 1954, the New Theatre, Cardiff had become the company's base and it staged a short season between 1–13 November, with performances of Les vêpres siciliennes, Rigoletto, Nabucco, Verdi's Requiem, The Bartered Bride, Faust, Die Fledermaus and the premiere performance of Menna by Welsh composer Arwel Hughes.
However, without a permanent home, WNO still had to tour to survive. A production of I Pagliacci had been chosen, but tragically, Idloes Owen died in Cardiff that year at the age of 59 and it was never staged.
In 1955 the company gave its first performances in London at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in Islington. They performed two Verdi operas Nabucco and I Lombardi alla prima crociata and Wagner's Lohengrin. Both enjoyed rave reviews. The music critic of the "South Wales Argus", Kenneth Loveland, reported on the weeks' season of operas, saying they had been an outstanding artistic success, producing record box-office figures. All this came from enthusiastic amateurs who came from all over South Wales to rehearse twice a week in a garage in Frederick Street Cardiff, and for this week were just given a free rail ticket to London with eight guineas expenses!
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