The late 19th century saw a number of attempts to establish an opera company in Wales, but nobody struck the right note until singing teacher Idloes Owen and a group of friends had a crack at it in the early 1940s.
Idloes, born in the village of Merthyr Vale, was the son of a coal miner and briefly worked in the mines himself as a young boy. His real passion, however, was music, singing in the church choir and teaching himself the piano and violin after work. When his father died, Idloes believed his dreams of pursuing a career in music were all but over, until the local community stepped in, organising a collection fund to send him to university in Cardiff.
Led by Idloes, with a chorus that included a butcher, pub landlord and railway workers, the first rehearsal of what would become Welsh National Opera took place in January 1944. The company’s first performance was held at the Prince of Wales Theatre in Cardiff two years later, a very successful but slightly ramshackle double bill of Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, which saw the actors wearing their own costumes and the construction of the set continue right up until the opening night.
From these humble beginnings, the company would grow from strength to strength, becoming an all-year-round operation that quickly asserted itself as one of the finest opera companies in the UK, as well as the first from outside of London to tour the English provinces. The company became fully professional in 1976 and moved into its permanent home at Wales Millennium Centre in 2004.
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