Anna Karenina was premiered on May 7, 1981, at the London Coliseum by the English National Opera in a performance conducted by Howard Williams with Lois McDonall in the title role.
It was first staged on May 7, 1981, by ENO in a production directed by Colin Graham with sets by Ralph Koltai and costumes by Anena Stubbs.
[1] Anna Karenina had its American premiere on March 16, 1983, at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles and ran for three nights under the baton of Chris Nance.
It was staged by the now defunct Los Angeles Opera Theatre in a production using screen projections as backdrops rather than traditional sets.
The American composer David Carlson also wrote an opera, premiered in 2007, based on the Tolstoy's novel; the libretto of his Anna Karenina was written by Colin Graham, the director of the 1981 production of Hamilton's version.