Pimlico Opera aims to use music and drama to advance personal development, particularly with younger people. Artistic excellence is an essential part of achieving this aim.

Back in 1987, the company was started by Wasfi Kani OBE and was probably the first to specialise in performing in unusual places - hospitals, wonderful country houses, banks, prisons. In 1991 the company was awarded Arts Council project funding and core funding.

Landmark productions include the first British performance of Shostakovich’s musical comedy Cheryomushki, a satire on life in a 1950’s Moscow housing estate which was the subject of a BBC documentary and nominated for an Evening Standard award.

There was a second BBC documentary about the work in prison which won a nomination for a BAFTA award.

Between 1992 and 2009 the Arts Council subsidised an annual tour to 20 small scale theatres from Berwick-on-Tweed to Cornwall.

Pimlico Opera is the sister company of Grange Park Opera which was founded in 1998.