ENGLISH TOURING OPERA ANNOUNCE FOUR AMBITIOUS NEW PRODUCTIONS AND MORE FOR 2025-26 SEASON
Autumn 2025 – 27 September – 22 November 2025
Spring 2026 – 20 March – 21 May 2026
Autumn 2025 – ETO presents new productions of Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love and Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia
Spring 2026 – the tour opens in Sheffield for the first time, featuring ETO’s debut production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers, alongside Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci
ETO continues its mission to bring world-class opera to audiences across England with fully staged productions, innovative children’s operas, expanded touring to new venues and a growing ETO Unboxed programme incorporating visual arts, spoken word, film and more=
English Touring Opera (ETO) announces four new productions for its 2025-26 season, combining ambitious and wide-ranging repertoire, operas for children and young people and an enriching programme of additional events to bring opera to as many people as possible. The nation’s leading touring opera company, ETO brings outstanding live productions and impactful education and community projects to more towns and cities than any other UK opera company in its mission to make exceptional artistic experiences available to all.
Robin Norton-Hale, General Director of ETO, said: ‘We’re delighted to present our 2025-26 season, offering fresh perspectives on beloved classics, joyful new operas for children and innovative ways to welcome new audiences into the wonderful world of opera. From Donizetti’s effervescent The Elixir of Love and Britten’s devastatingly beautiful The Rape of Lucretia in the Autumn, to the gritty intensity of Pagliacci and delightful farce of The Gondoliers in Spring, these productions showcase the range of this amazing artform.
We’re also excited to open a season in our new home of Sheffield for the first time, building on many years of touring to the city. In our opinion, nothing quite matches the unique shared experience of live performance. Wherever you are based, please join us to share some great music and storytelling.’
Autumn 2025 opens with a new production of Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love, directed by Martin Constantine – Artistic Director of the pioneering Streetwise Opera – and conducted by Royal Philharmonic Society ‘Conductor Award’ nominee Alice Farnham. Soprano Natasha Page – First Prize winner of the 2023 Maureen Lehane Vocal Awards – makes her ETO debut singing the role of Adina alongside tenor Tamsanqa Tylor Lamani as Nemorino, who recently received acclaim for his performance in ETO’s 2025 production What Dreams May Come. Timothy Nelson makes a welcome return to ETO in the role of Belcore, and Emyr Wyn Jones and Rosie Lomas make their ETO debuts in the roles of Dulcamara and Gianetta respectively.
ETO Artistic Director Robin Norton-Hale directs a new production of Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, a devastating and chilling exploration of the abuse of power. Mezzo-soprano Clare Presland – recently seen in the Olivier Award-winning production of Festen at the Royal Ballet and Opera – sings the role of Lucretia for the first time, with Jenny Stafford and William Morgan as the Female and Male Chorus. Kieran Rayner performs the role of Tarquinius alongside Trevor Eliot Bowes as Lucretia’s husband Collatinus, Edmund Danon as Junius, Jane Monari singing Bianca and Rosie Lomas in the role of Lucia. ETO Music Director Gerry Cornelius conducts, reuniting with Norton-Hale after their critically acclaimed production of Judith Weir’s Blond Eckbert which opened the Aldeburgh Festival in 2024.
The tour opens at London’s Hackney Empire on 27 September (The Elixir of Love), before touring to venues in Coventry, Darlington, Buxton, Malvern, Bath, Saffron Walden and Barnstaple. ETO will also be visiting three of these venues for the first time – the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, Darlington Hippodrome and Queen’s Theatre in Barnstaple – further enhancing the company’s mission to make exceptional opera available to as many people as possible.
The Spring 2026 tour opens with Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers; the first time ETO has ever staged the opera. Director and choreographer Liam Steel returns to the company to direct this production following 2016’s critically acclaimed Patience and Olivier-Award winning Paul Bunyan in 2014, and Jack Ridley conducts. It also marks the first time that the company will open a tour in Sheffield, deepening ETO’s roots in the city and the community following its relocation to Sheffield as part of the Arts Council England Transfer programme.
The tour also features a new production of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci in a new English translation by Robin Norton-Hale. Ripped from the headlines about a real-life crime case from the composer’s own childhood, Pagliacci is the story of the very public breakdown of a passionate relationship between two celebrated actors in an intense 90 minutes of drama. Eleanor Burke – founder of groundbreaking sustainable opera company Green Opera and graduate of the Royal Ballet and Opera’s Jette Parker Programme – makes her directorial debut with ETO, alongside Gerry Cornelius as conductor.
ETO’s Spring 2026 tour opens at Sheffield’s Lyceum Theatre on 20 March (The Gondoliers), before touring to London, Buxton, Norwich, Chester, Canterbury, Truro and Durham – full casting and further venues will be announced in due course.
Learning and Participation programme – Central to ETO’s mission is its award-winning Learning and Participation programme, which reaches over 10,000 people each year through productions and projects in theatres, schools, museums and libraries. Autumn 2025 sees a brand-new opera for children aged 3-7 and audiences with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) entitled Little Terror, written by Maisie Newman and the students of Phoenix School in Tower Hamlets and composed by Noah Mosley, whose previous work for ETO includes The Firebird, The Wish Gatherer and Shh! We Have a Plan. Currently in development for Spring 2026 is Ada and the Code Crusaders, a new production for Key Stage Two students about the life of Ada Lovelace, written and composed by Anna Pool.
ETO Unboxed – In addition to the main stage productions, ETO also present ‘ETO Unboxed’ – a programme of additional events that explore the multi-disciplinary and multi-genre nature of opera, covering music, theatre, design, language, movement and more. As well as enriching audiences’ engagement with opera, ETO Unboxed increases presence in local communities and provides additional entry points into the world of opera. Upcoming events for the Autumn 2025 tour include four new poetry commissions in response to the season’s themes, which will be performed in different venues around the country, and the filming of short opera The Knot, commissioned by ETO and filmed by students from Sheffield Hallam University’s Filmmaking MA in various locations around the city. Further details and additional events will be announced soon.
Tickets for the Autumn 2025 tour are on sale now via ETO’s website click here – more information and tickets for the Spring 2026 tour will be available in due course.