The China National Opera House (CNOH) or China Central Opera (中央歌剧院) is a State-run opera company based in Beijing, China, and under the Chinese Ministry of Culture. CNOH consists of an opera troupe, a choir, a symphony orchestra and a stagecraft, costume and scenery departments. It is affiliated, through common direction under the Ministry of Culture, with the Shanghai Opera House company and other geju companies around China.
The China Central Opera was preceded in Yan'an in 1942 with the performance of the Yangko drama (秧歌剧) Brothers and Sisters Opening up the Wasteland (《兄妹开荒》), and the White-Haired Girl. The opera troupe relocated to Beijing in 1952 and was officially established in 1952 as the national opera company directly under the Ministry of Culture.
The administrative offices, practice rooms and a rehearsal theatre, often referred to as the "Central National Opera House," are located at Chaoyangmen Outer Street Dongzhong-jie 115, south-east of Dongsi Shitiao Station in West Beijing, however since the opening of the National Centre for the Performing Arts (China) at Tiananmen Square East, performances at the permanent theatre of the Opera company are rare. The company instead performs in larger theatres around China, including the Shanghai Oriental Art Centre, supplies opera singers to television stations and for concert performances, and tours abroad.
CNOH staged La Boheme in Beijing in 1986 with Luciano Pavarotti and later Turandot in the Forbidden City. Then in June 2001 came the successful Three Tenors Forbidden City Concert. In 2009, CNOH staged Turandot with Zhang Yimou in the "Bird's Nest" Beijing National Stadium, and again in the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium in Taiwan.