Opera Holland Park, the London summer opera company in leafy Holland Park, has always punched well above its weight. As it celebrates its 30th birthday, its director of opera James Clutton picks some of his favourite moments from the past three decades. The company's 2026 season continues until 22 August.
Early successes and national recognition
National recognition for Opera Holland Park (OHP) began with a series of productions that combined striking details of personality and musical style with strong design. After a pivotal 2003 staging of Fidelio, Olivia Fuchs returned to OHP to direct a staging of Verdi's Macbeth described in the Guardian as "supremely intelligent and nerve-shredding" with designs by Bob Bailey.
In 2006, a production of Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades faced a dramatic challenge when the leading tenor combusted vocally on the first night. Clutton recalls: "After a spectacular vocal collapse on the first night of Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades, we urgently needed to find a replacement who knew the role. With a Russian company on tour at the Coliseum, that was the obvious place to look. Less obvious was the single playing card that I found on the pavement outside: the Queen of Spades."
Tosca and company of the year
Stephen Barlow's revelatory 2008 staging of Tosca was set in the grit, glamour and political turmoil of Rome in 1968, and catapulted the South African soprano Amanda Echalaz to stardom in a role that would become her signature. Sixteen years later she returned for the production's first revival, conducted by one of the first graduates of the company's young artists scheme, Matthew Kofi Waldren, who has conducted many productions at Opera Holland Park since, including this year's La Fanciulla del West. In 2010, Opera Holland Park was named opera company of the year in the Sunday Times.
In 2012, a crowd of 600 watched as principals and chorus sang Beethoven's Ode to Joy on the steps of the theatre, conducted by Stuart Stratford and accompanied by City of London Sinfonia, when the Olympic torch relay passed through Holland Park as one of the last stops on its way to the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics.
Rarities and community engagement
Operatic rarities, most particularly from early 20th century Italy's giovane scuola composers, became the company's calling card. These included Mascagni's controversial Orientalist fantasy, Iris (1997 and 2016), and Wolf-Ferrari's bloodthirsty Neapolitan melodrama, I gioielli della Madonna (2013), which launched the career of the young Welsh soprano Natalya Romaniw, in a performance described as "siren-like" in the Guardian.
Commissioned by OHP, Will Todd and Maggie Gottlieb's freewheeling adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland delighted a generation of London primary school children and preschoolers in a series of al fresco performances on the Yucca Lawn of Holland Park. Revivals at the Linbury studio and Wilderness festival followed, and Alice has returned to the main stage of the theatre this summer in an expanded production.
Ambitious productions and awards
In 2015, the most ambitious production since I gioielli saw all three of Puccini's one act 1911 operas, Il tabarro, Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi, on stage at Opera Holland Park. This led to the company's first nomination for a Royal Philharmonic Society award and drew comparisons from the Daily Telegraph across casting and conception to the Royal Opera and the Metropolitan Opera of New York.
Every company needs a gold standard classic, and with Rodula Gaitanou's sensational updating of Verdi's La traviata to the demimonde of 1890s Paris, complete with references to the paintings of Gustave Courbet and John Singer Sargent, Opera Holland Park had its prize. Heralded in the Stage as "world class opera", and described as "dazzling" in the Guardian, the production was revived in 2021 and 2025.
Community and outreach
An independent charity since 2015, OHP is the only UK opera company founded as part of a local council, and remains close to its civic roots. When the Grenfell Tower fire of 2017 killed 72 residents of the borough, including Debbie Lamprell, a cherished member of staff, a benefit performance of Verdi's Requiem was swiftly put together, with a chorus of artists including conductor Edward Gardner and composer Mark-Anthony Turnage. A year later, the Hope for Grenfell Gala saw the company and the local community gather to sing together and raise funds.
Proving that community work is not the preserve of companies in receipt of public funding, OHP's Inspire programme takes music into schools, care homes, clinics, homeless shelters and hospitals year round. It supports the annual schools matinees with workshops and educational projects, and it allocates free and subsidised tickets to performances for families, NHS workers and first-line responders. At the 2018 International Opera Awards, against strong competition from across the globe, OHP won that year's award for education and outreach.
New commissions and nurturing talent
Hailed in the Observer as "an exhilarating instant classic", and adapted from Simon Mayo's thrillers for young adults, Jonathan Dove's Itch was the company's first main-stage full-length commission in 2023. A classic quest adventure with a timely ecological message, a stunning kinetic periodic table as a set and a newly created electronic sound for the mysterious element at the centre of the plot, Itch was partly crowd-funded from OHP's members and supporters, named the Element Hunters after the teenage hero's passion for science, each sponsoring an element from the periodic table.
Founded in 2012 with funding from private philanthropy, OHP's young artists scheme has launched the careers of over 100 singers, conductors, directors and répétiteurs, with no fewer than 24 alumni returning in senior roles in the 2026 season. Artists who have made significant debuts and role debuts with OHP include tenor David Butt Philip, sopranos Amanda Echalaz and Natalya Romaniw, and conductors Stuart Stratford and Charlotte Corderoy. Butt Philip and conductor Matthew Kofi Waldren first appeared on our stage as members of the OHP chorus.
Sustainable theatre and future
A simple innovation – advance scheduling of rehearsals – allows singers, directors, designers and technicians to plan caring responsibilities in good time, significantly reducing stress and expenditure. The family room backstage serves as a creche and a private space for breast pumping, and runs in conjunction with the company's commitment to nurturing talent with thoughtful working practices and a commitment to the natural environment surrounding the site.
As OHP celebrates its 30th, the theatre itself stands as one of its most distinctive achievements. Reimagined in 2021, the open-air auditorium was built using upcycled reclaimed wood, repurposed shipping containers and sustainably sourced materials, reflecting both the natural beauty of its Holland Park setting and the company's commitment to environmental responsibility. Sustainability extends throughout the venue, from seating repurposed from theatres and productions across the UK to a fully LED-lit site and a broader philosophy of reuse embedded in every aspect of its operations.
