Welsh National Opera Orchestra

The Welsh National Opera Orchestra maintains a busy schedule outside of its function as an opera house orchestra. The beginnings of the Welsh National Opera Orchestra date to 1946, when the modern Welsh National Opera was formed in the city of Cardiff. The group took its present name in 1978; it has also been known as the Orchestra of the Welsh National Opera. An early digital release was a 1997 recording of highlights from Verdi's Un ballo in maschera. The orchestra on that album was conducted by Carlo Rizzi, one of the Welsh National Opera conductors who have also directed the orchestra. Tomáš Hanus became music director in 2016 and remained in that position as of the mid-2020s. The orchestra has appeared on several albums of vocal and instrumental music, and in 2024, Rizzi returned for the album Puccini: Symphonic Suites Imagined by Carlo Rizzi.