Henry Little moves from Orchestras Live to Opera Rara.

Henry Little is stepping down as Chief Executive of Orchestras Live at the end of December 2015 and taking up the post of Chief Executive at Opera Rara. Henry Little has been at Orchestras Live since 2008, and has been responsible for projects such as Beyond the Premiere, a programme that provides a platform for repeat performances of recently commissioned orchestral work, and First Time Live, giving tens of thousands of young people across England a first-time inspirational experience of hearing a live orchestra.You can read my recent interview with Henry on this blog celebrating Orchestras Live's first 50 years, and also read about the First Time Live Youth event in Grimsby.

For the last 40 years Opera Rara has pioneered bringing forgotten 19th century operatic repertoire back to life, often based on new editions of the music. Presenting both performances and recordings, the company has released over 85 recordings on their own label. Henry Little will be replacing the current Opera Rara chief executive, Stephen Revell who retired this summer. The company's most recent CD release was Donizetti's French grand opera Les Martyrs conducted by Mark Elder (see my CD review), which was also performed in concert in London (see my review)

Prior to joining Orchestras Live, Henry Little work at the Arts Council and those with long memories will remember him as Head of Opera and Music Theatre (in the days when the Arts Council had such a post). But prior to this he started out working at British Youth Opera and ENO (where he was a staff director), experience which should stand him in good stead at the helm of Opera Rara.