Retrospect Opera

Retrospect Opera (est 2014) is a specialist recording charity focusing on 18th-, 19th- & 20th-century opera and related works by composers of the British Isles.

[Retrospect Opera @RetrospectOpera]

Free orchestral concert in Guildford, Surrey on Saturday 14 November, 3-5:30pm. Further information/free tickets: https://t.co/ULlX3kRjOK

Featuring excerpts from Richard Stoker's opera Johnson Preserv'd, which is now available for pre-order: https://t.co/Av1dI7nyvQ

[Christopher Wiley @Dr_Chris_Wiley]

FREE ORCHESTRAL CONCERT: MUSIC INSPIRED BY LITERATURE
Saturday 14 November, 3-5:30pm
Guildford United Reformed Church, GU2 4BS

Further information/free tickets: https://t.co/mJo0PXforg

@UniofSurrey @UniofSurreyCPE @ESRCImpact

[Retrospect Opera @RetrospectOpera]

Free orchestral concert in Guildford, Surrey on Saturday 14 November, 3-5:30pm in partnership with @RetrospectOpera, featuring excerpts from Richard Stoker's opera Johnson Preserv'd!

Further information: https://t.co/ULlX3kRREi

[Christopher Wiley @Dr_Chris_Wiley]

FREE ORCHESTRAL CONCERT: MUSIC INSPIRED BY LITERATURE

Saturday 14 November, 3-5:30pm
Guildford United Reformed Church, GU2 4BS

Further information/free tickets: https://t.co/mJo0PXforg

@UniofSurrey @SurreyDMM @UniOfSurreyCPE

[Retrospect Opera @RetrospectOpera]

Our latest release, The Seal-Woman by Marjory Kennedy-Fraser and Granville Bantock, is now available to be streamed!

Find it on Spotify here:
https://t.co/V4v77xYmtB

[Retrospect Opera @RetrospectOpera]

We receive some fantastic mentions in the 'Bronze Ceiling' podcast on sites of feminist memory in the UK.

Listen to Episode 2 about the @DameEthelSmyth statue (which features an interview with our own @Dr_Chris_Wiley) on our recordings of Smyth's operas.

https://t.co/Z0i6aSYOaT

[Retrospect Opera @RetrospectOpera]

The team at Retrospect Opera is very saddened to learn of the passing of Dame Felicity Lott. She was incredibly supportive of our endeavours from the outset. It was an education and a great privilege to work with her as reciter for our recording of Lehmann's The Happy Prince.

[Retrospect Opera @RetrospectOpera]

The "lost" Hot Potatoes Fanfare by @DameEthelSmyth was recently revived. See this article by @Dr_Chris_Wiley, now translated into French: https://t.co/0CQIxxHte6

Smyth quotes the same fanfare in Entente Cordiale. To support our recording of that opera: https://t.co/jnvCEKsw6c

[Retrospect Opera @RetrospectOpera]

The "lost" Hot Potatoes Fanfare by @DameEthelSmyth has recently been revived. See this article by @Dr_Chris_Wiley for The Conversation:
https://t.co/xhXMfHe0IE

Smyth quotes the same fanfare in Entente Cordiale. To support our recording of that opera:
https://t.co/jnvCEKsw6c

[Retrospect Opera @RetrospectOpera]

This year we released our recording of Kennedy-Fraser & Bantock's The Seal-Woman, available here: https://t.co/BMxWopAEkM

Find out more about Kennedy-Fraser (pictured) and her opera from this recently published article by @Dr_Chris_Wiley (see pp. 3-11): https://t.co/oOhosH6L5q

[Retrospect Opera @RetrospectOpera]

The team at @RetrospectOpera wish all those interested in British opera a Merry Christmas!

2025 has been very busy and we have exciting things to announce in the New Year - watch this space!

Don't forget, our CDs make great stocking-fillers - see https://t.co/BMxWopA6ve.

[Dame Ethel Smyth @DameEthelSmyth]

Featuring the UK premiere of Smyth's Symphonie für kleines Orchester, the modern premiere of Smyth's Opening and Intermezzo from The Boatswain's Mate, plus Smyth's Two Interlinked French Folk Melodies, Overture to The Boatswain's Mate, and The March of the Women. @RetrospectOpera

[Christopher Wiley @Dr_Chris_Wiley]

FREE ORCHESTRAL CONCERT FOR ALL THE FAMILY
Saturday 15 November, 3-5:30pm
Guildford United Reformed Church, GU2 4BS

Featuring the music of Ethel Smyth, plus Jurassic Park, James Bond & ABBA - and try out some instruments yourself!

Further info/tickets: https://t.co/iuoFt2Xr0M

[Retrospect Opera @RetrospectOpera]

'Retrospect's CD issue, recorded clearly in Glasgow's Scottish Opera Production Studios, offers winning advocacy. [...] the company has excelled itself by providing a lavishly illustrated booklet for The Seal-Woman'

- Christopher Webber, Opera magazine, November 2025

[Retrospect Opera @RetrospectOpera]

'Retrospect's CD issue, recorded clearly in Glasgow's Scottish Opera Production Studios, offers winning advocacy. [...] the company has excelled itself by providing a lavishly illustrated booklet for The Seal-Woman'

- Christopher Webber, Opera magazine, November 2025

[Retrospect Opera @RetrospectOpera]

Editor's Choice - October 2025

Review of Kennedy-Fraser and Bantock's The Seal-Woman (Retrospect Opera, 2025) in @LimelightArtsAu, 8 September 2025, by Clive Paget:

https://t.co/1j7qJ4CMqJ

[Retrospect Opera @RetrospectOpera]

Congratulations to our former Trustee Andy King on the Keynote at the International Society for the Study of Egyptomania conference this weekend. https://t.co/PXH2uKBrXV

Find out more about The Seal-Woman: https://t.co/CGJtSvWoIb

And The Happy Prince: https://t.co/JP02PLYCci

[Retrospect Opera @RetrospectOpera]

'it has been admirably served by Retrospect Opera with this first complete recording ... heroic efforts behind this undertaking - and the superlative performances by all concerned'

- Review of Kennedy-Fraser and Bantock's The Seal-Woman by Geraint Lewis, Gramophone

[Retrospect Opera @RetrospectOpera]

‘All credit to Retrospect Opera [...] Yvonne Howard is in fine voice as The Cailleach [...] Best of all is Catherine Carby as the seal woman’

- Review of Bantock and Kennedy-Fraser’s The Seal-Woman, Christopher Cook, BBC Music Magazine, 7 August 2025

https://t.co/KxX66PPTI2

[Retrospect Opera @RetrospectOpera]

'Retrospect Opera has an excellent track record in recording largely unknown British operas ... John Andrews leads his forces in a well-shaped reading of the score.'
- Review of The Seal-Woman by Philip Reed, Opera Now, 31 July 2025
https://t.co/D9UCA1WUSI

[Retrospect Opera @RetrospectOpera]

"Throughout the performance is well played and sung ... The extensive booklet notes are thorough and absorbing. This was clearly a labour of love."

- Review of Kennedy-Fraser & Bantock's The Seal-Woman by Kevin Mandry for British Music Society, July 2025

https://t.co/3S67Ofj2Va

[Retrospect Opera @RetrospectOpera]

#OTD in 1925, @DameEthelSmyth's Entente Cordiale was premiered at the Royal College of Music, London. To commemorate this centenary, our own @Dr_Chris_Wiley has written an article for @operamagazine. #EthelSmyth To donate to our upcoming recording: https://t.co/jnvCEKsw6c