Welsh National Opera

"Welsh Opera" redirects here. For the play by Henry Fielding, see The Welsh Opera. For the operas in the Welsh language, see Category:Welsh-language operas.

Welsh National Opera (WNO; Welsh: Opera Cenedlaethol Cymru) is an opera company based in Cardiff, Wales. The company presents eight operas a year in about 120 domestic and international performances. It has been described by The New York Times as "one of the finest operatic ensembles in Europe".

Launched in 1946 as a mainly amateur body, WNO had become an all-professional ensemble by 1973. Its season has grown from a single week of performances in Cardiff to a year-round operation with its own salaried chorus and orchestra. In 2004, the company moved to its first permanent headquarters, in the new Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay.

Besides Cardiff, the company most frequently performs in Llandudno in Wales and Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool, Milton Keynes, Oxford, Plymouth, and Southampton in England.

Singers who have been associated with the company include Geraint Evans, Thomas Allen, Anne Evans, and Bryn Terfel. Guest artists from other countries have included Joan Hammond, Tito Gobbi and Elisabeth Söderström. Its conductors have included Sir Charles Mackerras, Reginald Goodall, James Levine and Pierre Boulez. The company has been led by Aidan Lang as its General Director since 2019.

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