The New Zealand Opera Company was New Zealand's first resident professional national company, formed by baritone Donald Munro in 1954.

[1] Its first full-scale work was Mozart's Marriage of Figaro in 1958, which toured 47 towns.

[1] From 1963 funding from the QE II Arts Council allowed national tours with a full orchestra, including a production of Porgy and Bess with a Māori cast including Īnia Te Wiata, and Ngaio Marsh's A Unicorn for Christmas with music by David Farquhar.

[1] After Arts Council funding was withdrawn in 1971 the company folded.

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