British National Opera Company
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British National Opera Company (BNOC) was founded in December 1921 by singers and instrumentalists from Thomas Beecham's Beecham Opera Company, which was disbanded when financial problems over buying The Bedford Estate forced Beecham to withdraw from the music scene for a short period.
The Company's first performance was Aida at Bradford in February 1922. For much of its existence the Company toured in the provinces, but also had short seasons at Covent Garden (1922–1924) and then at His Majesty's Theatre.[1]
British National Opera Company's first artistic director was Percy Pitt. Pitt had been music director with the Grand Opera Syndicate and who later worked at the BBC. His successor in 1924 was baritone Frederic Austin, who in 1920 arranged the music for a revival of The Beggar’s Opera at the Lyric Hammersmith.[2] The Company had a wide repertory, which included works by Wagner, Debussy, Italian opera and several English works, including Vaughan Williams's Hugh the Drover and Gustav Holst's The Perfect Fool and At the Boar's Head.[1]
British National Opera Company employed most of the leading British singers and conductors of that time, including conductors John Barbirolli, Boult, Harty, Hughes and Sargent, and singers Dame Nellie Melba, Joseph Hislop, Edward Johnson, Dinh Gilly, Norman Allin, Robert Radford, Dora Labbette, Frank Mullings, and Heddle Nash among others.[2]
The Company ceased to exist in 1929 following a tax demand for £17,000 which forced it to go into voluntary liquidation.[2] Its last performances were Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci at Golders Green, London, on 16 April 1929. The Company was re-named Covent Garden English Opera Company in September 1929, with Barbirolli as its musical director, and continued under that name for a further three seasons.[1]