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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Welsh National Opera
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The first of Britain's three regional opera companies (the others being *Scottish Opera and *Opera North), and the only one to have grown from amateur beginnings. It first performed in Cardiff in 1946. As a result of the great Welsh tradition of singing, the new company soon had enthusiastic choruses in both Cardiff and Swansea, each preparing separately for the next production. It was not until the 1970s that the enterprise became fully professional.
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In recent years it has had critical success with ambitious productions involving leading European artists – notably Verdi's Otello (1986) and Falstaff (1988) staged by the German director Peter Stein, who was also responsible for Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande (1992) conducted by Pierre Boulez. When at home in Cardiff the company performs in the New Theatre, but it also tours throughout Wales and central England – sometimes, in small places, with the accompaniment reduced to a few players or even to a single piano.
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