WELCOME!

Lloyd Newton
(ALCM (voice), ALCM (piano), LLCM (TD), LLCM, GLCM, PGCE, ACWCMD)

Artistic Director & Founder / Trustee

Thank you for visiting Pegasus Opera on the internet.

1992 saw the birth of Pegasus Opera Company, now the leading multi-racial medium sized touring Opera Company in the United Kingdom. The Company was founded by the current Artistic Director, Lloyd Newton, a nominee for The Creative Briton Award in 1998 & 1999 through ABSA. He also received a certificate in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the Black community at local and national levels, from The Voice Newspaper. Pegasus came about following his involvement in Porgy and Bess at Glyndebourne 1986-87 and later at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1992.

The Glyndebourne production of Porgy and Bess had an array of talented black opera singers and then the repeat production at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden had even more. I never knew there were so many black singers and it was an exciting time. The birth of Pegasus was mainly due to long gaps between opportunities for black and other ethnic minority opera singers, indigenous to Britain, to perform their art. There was a great lull after Glyndebourne. There were some opportunities but not enough. The inception of Pegasus was to create and ensure on-going opportunities, not to wait until Porgy and Bess or Show Boat returned to the opera houses to provide the platform to perform.

Pegasus seeks to break down stereotypical racial casting, to allow singers of all ethnic backgrounds an opportunity to play the roles for which they would not normally be cast. Pegasus aims to set a precedent for more multi-racial productions, as evidenced by our casting. We feel that it is only through the nurturing of these diverse talents that a new form of cultural harmony can be achieved, a harmony which encourages talent equally without regard to its cultural heritage or ethnic background. We aim to model "Harmony in Diversity" by encouraging talent equally and to empower those who are continually marginalised and feel pushed towards the periphery of the opera world.

The Company seeks to de-mystify opera by making it accessible to as wide an audience as possible, actively involving a cross-section of the community. This includes programming an accessible range of works, touring to medium sized venues, providing an education programme and developing new audiences through special workshops and outreach programmes. We strive to break down the elitist perceptions so often associated with opera.

Pegasus is grateful for the support it receives from government bodies, charitable trusts and foundations. We rely on this support to help provide opportunities for young artists to develop and perform, as well as create new audiences for opera by demystifying the experience and increasing accessibility by presenting productions with which audiences can identify.

I hope you enjoy your visit to our site and will want to follow the development of this unique and exciting opera company.