User:Ruby Murray/Nationale Reisopera

The Nationale Reisopera is an opera company in the Netherlands. It is home to the National Muziekkwartier in Enschede, and provides 4 to 6 operas annually in about 15 major theaters nationwide.

The company has its own choir, but not its own orchestra. It works on productions together with several Dutch orchestras and ensembles, including the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, the Holland Symfonia and the Nieuw Ensemble. Since 2004 there has been a program at the Reisopera of annual operettas and light opera, at the instigation of the Secretary of State for Culture.

History
The National Touring Opera has existed in its current form since 1993. It is the successor to the traveling opera company Opera Forum, which was established in 1955.

Opera Forum was forced to merge with the Overijssels Philharmonic Orchestra as part of a cost-cutting program in 1982, and was renamed to Philharmonic Opera Forum. After another round of cuts, this group was suspended in 1992. The orchestra was then independently re-founded as Orchestra of the East. A new touring opera company was later founded again in 1993, with the situation basically the same as in the period from 1955 to 1982, when Opera Forum and Overijssels Philharmonic coexisted.