What is Kentish Opera?

Kentish Opera is a pro-am opera company, founded in 1953, that stages a wide range of operas giving 4 to 6 performances generally twice a year in the Kent areas of Bromley, Sevenoaks and Tonbridge.

Kentish Opera fulfils an important role in the operatic life of this country by providing a vital opportunity for young professional singers to gain experience in performing major operatic roles. The production team has the collective experience and expertise to ensure that every production is of extremely high quality.

Thus Kentish Opera is responsible for bringing consistently good productions to the South East, while at the same time helping many young singers to establish themselves with major professional companies.

What makes KO unique?

We believe there is (probably!) no other company in the UK (other than the major companies heavily supported by the Arts Council) that mounts such large scale productions e.g. chorus of up to 50 members, orchestra of some 30 players, impressive sets and costumes. This is a result of having a very talented, dedicated and high quality production team who have been working together for over twenty years.

 Beginnings and Brief History

In 1951 Audrey Langford (a renown local singer) was asked to put on an opera as part of Bromley's contribution to the Festival of Britain celebrations. She joined forces with Ande Anderson, who was a director at the Royal Opera House, and they staged Cosi fan tutte at the Convent, Bromley, with a cast drawn from her pupils and other young singers. This was such a success that they founded Kentish Opera in 1953 and produced The Marriage of Figaro the following year. Josephine Veasey (who was to become a leading mezzo-soprano at the Royal Opera House) was Cherubino in this production and Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte. Later Sir Geraint Evans became President and then Audrey until her death in 1994. Audrey's daughter (Sally Langford) then followed in her mother's footsteps. Sally and her husband Richard effectively became Mr & Mrs Kentish Opera for many years with Sally directing over 30 productions for the company. Sally sadly passed away in 2023, but Audrey and Sally's legacies live on and Kentish Opera goes from strength to strength with a new generation of the artistic team to ensure that we maintain the high standards set by our founders.