English Touring Opera appoints Gerry Cornelius as music director
Tuesday, April 13, 2021
In addition to English Touring Opera, Cornelius has also conducted English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, English National Ballet, Hallé Orchestra.
Credit: Edmond Choo
Cornelius will work closely with English Touring Opera’s director, James Conway.
Cornelius said: 'I am hugely honoured and excited to be taking up the role of music director with ETO and joining such a vibrant company of artists, producers, technicians and opera lovers.
'Mindful of my distinguished predecessors, the artistic excellence of the company but also of the devastating time we have been through, I cannot wait to fully immerse myself in the company’s culture and join its plans to burst back to making live performances of great opera and theatre across the country as soon as possible.
'Having already relished the fact that I live close to the company’s iconic London venue at Hackney Empire, I am now even more keen to get out of lockdown so that I can also visit ETO’s new home at Mountview in Peckham, very close to where I went to school and spent [or wasted] a lot of my time as a youngster.'
Cornelius begins this role with immediate effect and will conduct English Touring Opera’s production of Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Golden Cockerel in the company’s Spring 2022 season.
The English Touring Opera is currently establishing a new music advisory panel, to ensure that a diverse range of musical influences and opinions will guide decision making. Appointments to the panel will be announced in the coming weeks.