Welsh National Youth Opera (WNYO) is made up of enthusiastic, talented young singers and instrumentalists between 14 and 25 years old.
The group meets regularly in Cardiff and works with experienced theatre professionals – directors, vocal coaches and musicians – to improve performance skills, as well as collaborating with composers and writers in the creation of totally new pieces.
Each year WNYO mounts a full-scale production – opera, musical theatre, devised pieces – in the Weston Studio of Wales Millennium Centre. In April 2005 it premièred the thrilling new opera The Tailor's Daughter [1] composed by Brian Irvine [2] with a libretto by Greg Cullen [3] and directed by John Doyle. In July 2006 it performed Leonard Bernstein's comic operetta Candide [4] to much acclaim [5]), while in July 2009 the company performed Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd.
Commissioning new pieces, whose content is relevant and interesting to young performers and suitable for family audiences, is also central to WNYO's ethos.