Photograph taken outside the Theatre Royal in Chatham during a Carl Rosa tour
Welcome to the official website of The Carl Rosa Opera Company which still holds the record as the longest-running and most successful travelling opera company in British history.
Originally founded by Carl Rosa to present English language versions opera, it began by presenting successful seasons touring opera in the United States of America during the late 1860s. Their first British season took place in Manchester in 1873 and the company subsequently toured the length and breadth of Britain from then until its final performance in London on 17th September 1960.
We hope this website will offer the perfect complement to our upcoming book “Opera on the Move: the Story of the Carl Rosa Opera Company” and we’re aiming to add updates with new information as this becomes available.
Work remains ongoing throughout 2025 and 2026 in an attempt to create a full Performance Chronology for the Carl Rosa Opera Company.
Stop Press … New Book: “Opera on the Move: the Story of the Carl Rosa Opera Company”
Full publication and ordering details will be added as soon as they are confirmed
Joan Hammond who performed with the Carl Rosa was also a very proficient golfer and won the women’s junior golf championship for New South Wales in 1929, and the New South Wales Women’s Amateur Championship in 1932, 1934, and 1935.
The Carl Rosa had its own train and when it became too expensive all the scenery and costumes were transported by road with a fleet of cars being utilised.
Despite performing during the six days of the weeks many of the singers also appeared in charity concerts on Sundays. The Carl Rosa endeavoured to associate itself with the local community in the many towns it visited.
The Carl Rosa performed at the Royal Albert Hall on July 1st 1917 with a cast including William Boland, Ida Carton, Arthur Winkworth, Beatrice Miranda, Phyllis Archibald, Dorothy Robson, Hebden Foster, with excerpts from Rigoletto, Pagliacci, Magic Flute, Hoffmann, Tannhauser, Lohengrin, Aida, Merry Wives of Windsor, Samson & Delilah
The Carl Rosa even gave Summer performances in local London parks when Joan Hammond was the Prima Donna – Herne Hill
The Carl Rosa performed at the Opera House Covent Garden
Parepa-Rosa during her early career in the U.S.A had to travel by stagecoach in California to perform her engagements.
Carl Rosa who died in 1899 is buried in Highgate Cemetery together with his second wife Josephine. His first wife Parepa-Rosa the renowned opera singer died in childbirth and is also buried with her mother in the Cemetery.
Annette Phillips introduced ballet into the Carl Rosa performances particularly Faust and Carmen , introducing her daughter Ailne who had been trained by the Russian ballerina Lydia Kyasht and had performed before Queen Alexandra at the age of eleven years
There is a commemorative plaque to H.B.Phillips above his former premises in Shipquay Street, Londonderry. “H.B.PHILLIPS, 1866-1950,Impresario, had his music shop, Beecham House here”. He engaged many famous musicians and singers to perform including Clara Butt & Kennerley Rumford, Fritz Kreisler, The Halle Orchestra with Hans Richter conducting, the violinist Kubelik ……….and in 1909 he brought Caruso to Belfast
John Socman is an opera in three acts by George Lloyd to a libretto by William Lloyd. It was first performed by the Carl Rosa Opera Company at the Bristol Hippodrome, England on 15 May 1951. The work was one of three operatic commissions to mark the 1951 Festival of Britain.
There is a commemorative plaque to H.B. and Annette Phillips in St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden celebrated in 1982? With many former members of the Carl Rosa, including Dame Eva Turner, Redvers Llewelyn together with the Grandchildren and great grandchildren of the Phillips family.
H.B. and Annette Phillips purchased the Carl Rosa in 1923 and ran it for 30 years when Annette continued as Artistic Director finally retiring in 1957 at the age of 77 years.
Many famous conductors conducted the Carl Rosa Orchestra – Sir Thomas Beecham, Sir Adrian Boult, Carl Rosa, Peter Gellhorn, Arthur Hammond, Charles Webber, Vilem Tausky, Eugene Goossens I,II & III, Alfred Van Noorden, Claude Jacquinot, David Ellenberg,
n 1937 the Carl Rosa made a very successful Coronation tour of South Africa with the tour being extended from 12 to 18 weeks. They left with 400 crates of scenery and costumes, a singing cast of forty-five, an orchestra of forty-three and two conductors
In the early 1900s there were five opera companies touring the UK under the Carl Rosa name – all performing in English
In 1945 an audience of more than 150,000 people attended a seven week season at the Lyceum Theatre in London
The Carl Rosa Opera Company was founded in 1873 by Carl Rosa, a German-born violinist and musical impresario, and his wife, British operatic soprano Euphrosyne Parepa-Rosa
Queen Victoria conferred the titles ‘Royal’ and ‘Her Majesty’s Servants’ on the Carl Rosa Opera Company in January 1893
Audrey Mildmay of Glyndebourne fame performed with the Carl Rosa from 1930 before her marriage to John Christie and continued until 1936
The Carl Rosa, particularly in its earliest years, encouraged British composers to write operas for the company.
The Carl Rosa performed more that 150 different operas during its lifetime.
The Carl Rosa gave the first performance of the Flying Dutchman in English at the Lyceum Theatre in London in 1876
The Carl Rosa gave the first performance of Manon in Liverpool in 1885
The Carl Rosa Company owned the Royal Court Theatre in Liverpool from 1885-1889
Dame Eva Turner performed with the Carl Rosa for some years before being auditioned by Toscanini and becoming the first British singer to sing at La Scala, Milan
Gustav Holst played the trombone in the Carl Rosa Orchestra.
The Carl Rosa performed up to five different operas in English each week for an average of forty weeks per year
The Carl Rosa was the longest serving touring opera company in the world 1873 -1960
The Carl Rosa gave two Royal Command Performances at Balmoral in the presence of Queen Victoria – Daughter of the Regiment in 1892 and Fra Diavolo in 1893
Sir Henry Wood conducted the Carl Rosa Carmen Company in 1891
The Carl Rosa gave the first performance in England in 1897 of La Boheme at the Theatre Royal in Manchester under the personal supervision of Puccini
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