​WHO WE ARE

The Cambridge University Opera Society (CUOS) is one of the largest and most prestigious student opera groups in the UK, with a busy calendar of events taking place throughout the year. 

CUOS is run by a Junior Committee typically consisting of students of music as well as a variety of other subjects, aided by a Senior Committee of Fellows and academics. Details of the current student committee can be found here.

Photo: Tristan Selden

WHAT WE DO

Today, CUOS exists chiefly to facilitate student operatic productions in Cambridge. Every year CUOS stages a wide variety of operas in a number of different venues around Cambridge, putting on productions at least once a term.

Our Michaelmas and May Week shows vary in content and style, however, our biggest event is the Lent Term Mainshow, a large-scale production performed in West Road Concert Hall in February. Details of our current events can be found here, and if you are interested in putting on a production with CUOS, then further information is here - applications for Michaelmas 2019 and Mainshow 2020 are currently open.

Getting Involved

All CUOS shows hold open auditions, and there are often a variety of roles available, including a chorus and principals. Potential singers are encouraged to sign up to our student mailing list, and to follow us on Facebook and Twitter, to hear about upcoming auditions.
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Behind every CUOS show there is a production team and crew that is critical to the production's success. The core production team (director, music director, producer, and assistant producer) submit the initial show application to the society - see this page for more information - and interested crew members are encouraged to get in touch as soon as possible, or by applying for positions advertised on CamDram.

Opportunities for composers are a new regular feature of our season as CUOS have re-introduced its Opera Shorts. This production at the end of Lent term provides the opportunity for a number of student composed chamber operas to be performed by singers and instrumentalists with the helping hand of the CUOS committee. 

Orchestral players interested in playing for shows including in West Road's orchestra pit for the Mainshow are encouraged to get in touch with the committee by contacting us.

CUOS committee positions, open to all students in the university, are chosen every March/April: look out on Facebook and Twitter for more information on joining the committee at this time.

Photo: Sapphire Armitage

Photo: Tristan Selden

ORIGINS

CUOS has a rich and exciting history spanning over 50 years. Founded through the initiative of Benjamin Britten, Rafael Kubelik, William Walton and Georg Solti, among others, CUOS was created to organise and encourage all operatic activities within the university.

The society has helped to launch the careers of distinguished alumni including Mark Elder, David Atherton, Michael Chance, Andrew Kennedy and Alan Clayton. 

​CUOS has also hosted various contemporary opera productions, some of which it premiered in the UK. A full list of past productions can be seen here, and we always enjoy hearing about past shows that you have been involved in.