Northern Ireland Opera

NI Opera is an opera company founded in 2010 and based in Northern Ireland.

Funded by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, it began its first season with a remit for performing high-quality opera throughout Northern Ireland, while promoting young talent from the region and forming partnerships with arts organizations from Northern Ireland, Great Britain and further afield. The company is based in the Grand Opera House, Belfast. Its Artistic Director is Oliver Mears.

In his review of the company's first production, Tosca in March 2011, where he notes the enthusiastic response of the first night audience Terry Blain continues by stating that:

After launching in October 2010, in December 2010 NI Opera collaborated with Barry Douglas and his Camerata Ireland orchestra in a Christmas concert at the Ulster Hall. In February 2011 it co-produced its first NI-wide tour, with Second Movement Opera, a production of The Medium by Gian Carlo Menotti which travelled throughout Northern Ireland.

While productions of many of the operas in the standard repertoire have been given, some of the more unusual or rarely-performed ones have been included in seasons after early 2011.

Every year, the company holds an annual Festival of Voice at Glenarm, County Antrim. Judges and coaches include Iain Burnside, Kathryn Harries of the National Opera Studio, and David Gowland, Artistic Director of the Jette Parker Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. In 2013, a series of recitals from Glenarm were broadcast as part of a BBC Radio 3 recital series. Past recitalists have included Ailish Tynan, Claire Booth, and Stephan Loges.

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