Regina Conservatory Opera

Regina Conservatory Opera

Regina Conservatory Opera. Founded in 1951 by Richard Watson, director of the Regina Cons (Conservatory of Music, University of Regina) and a former member of the D'Oyly Carte Opera. Howard Leyton-Brown became conductor in 1952 and producer in 1955. The productions were accompanied by the Regina Conservatory String Orchestra, augmented as necessary, and the company presented one or two operas each season, including Faust, Così fan tutte, Don Giovanni, Carmen, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Dido and Aeneas, and two commissioned works, Frank Thorolfson's The Qu'Appelle River Legend in 1956 and Jack Behrens' The Lay of Thrym in 1968. A complete list of productions can be found in The Regina Conservatory of Music (Regina 1988). The final full production staged by the company was Hansel and Gretel, given in Darke Hall in January 1969.