In 2004 English Touring Opera celebrated 25 years of involving local communities throughout England by touring productions, education and outreach projects. Many PMF Scholars have been, and are currently, principal singers with ETO. In 2005 ETO was nominated for a South Bank Award for James Conway's Spring 2005 production of Donizetti's Mary Queen of Scots and was shortlisted for an RPS award in the Education category for embracing ‘new ways of reaching audiences across all their work’.

PMF involvement:

Spring 2004 Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro

April - September 2004 co-production with Young Vic Theatre Company of Dove's Tobias and the Angel,
part of the Young Vic 'Walkabout' series produced whilst their new theatre was being built.

Spring 2005 Mozart's Così fan tutte, Donizetti's Mary Stuart, Mozart's The (Little) Magic Flute.

Spring 2006 Puccini’s Tosca and Janáček’s Jenůfa

Autumn 2006 Baroque Festival Tour:

  • Monteverdi’s Orfeo
  • Cavalli’s Erismena
  • Handel’s Tolomeo
  • Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas with Carissimi’s Jephte
    • Baroque Festival Tour

    The Observer
    ‘These are all ravishing works, staged with care, devotion and expertise… ETO maintains far higher standards of production and performance than most smaller-scale companies… it makes it a must-see visitor to the parts of the country that opera does dot often reach and puts it in imminent danger of becoming a national treasure.’

    Monteverdi’s Orfeo

    The Daily Telegraph
    ‘Robert Howarth conducts an excellent period band with panache, and there is a lovely moment when amateurs rise in the auditorium to add their antiphonal voices to the great chorus as Orfeo crosses the Styx.’
    The Independent
    ‘… this is one of the most truthful accounts of Monteverdi’s great opera I’ve heard.  With nine singers plus a large period band, English Touring Opera produce that madrigalesque sound that can only be achieved when everyone is a soloist in their own right.'

    Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas with Carissimi’s Jephte

    The Guardian
    ‘Both works are finely sung – Jephte in particular, is exceptional – while Stout and Thomé have strong vocal allure and dramatic presence. Matthew Hall’s conducting is sensitive and incisive too.’

    3 December 2008