Support Hampstead Garden Opera
Ways to Support HGO
There’s a moment every singer remembers: the very first time a full house goes still and every eye is on them. HGO gives young singers that moment, with a live orchestra, a real production, and a director who won’t let them coast.
A production can cost around £90,000. Tickets get us roughly a third of the way there. The rest comes from charitable trusts, our Friends, gifts left to us in wills, and people who simply believe in what we’re building.
Your gift closes that gap. It’s what turns a talented singer into one you’ll hear again, somewhere bigger, in the future.
Support HGO and see where your generous donations lead – read our singers’ success stories.
Become A Friend of the HGO
HGO receives no funding from government or public bodies. Beyond what our tickets bring in, everything we do depends on people who choose to back us directly, and our Friends carry most of that weight.
A Friend subscription is an annual commitment, and because HGO can claim Gift Aid on it, your support stretches further at no extra cost to you.
In return, you go to the front of the queue. Priority booking means you choose your seats before the public can, for every production we stage. You’re also invited into the parts of HGO a ticket alone doesn’t reach: open rehearsals, concerts, talks, masterclasses, and the occasional evening with a familiar face from the world of opera.
Sponsor an Opera
Even with a full house, a production can leave us £20,000 or more short. That’s the gap between what we sell tickets for and what it actually costs to put a full opera on stage: an orchestra, a director, weeks of rehearsal, a cast finding their way into a role for the first time.
As a sponsor, you close that gap for one production and put your name beside it. Your support decides whether a piece gets the full staging it truly deserves, not a smaller version of what it could be.
We’d love the chance to talk it through. Contact our General Director Philip Sheffield
Make A Donation
Not every gift needs to have a name attached, or a production picked out in advance. Some of our donors give once. Some give discreetly, every year, and never ask to be thanked for it publicly.
Whatever the size, it goes straight into the gap between what a ticket brings in and what an opera actually costs to stage properly. There’s no minimum, and no obligation to give repeatedly. If you’d like to give towards something specific, or you’re considering a larger gift, Philip Sheffield, our Chairman, would be glad to talk to you. Otherwise, you can donate below.
Contact Us
“I had, quite literally, the time of my life and am extremely proud to be a part of the HGO family. I am a huge supporter of their work and ALWAYS encourage rising singers to audition and get involved as best they can.”
Stephanie Wake Edwards, Mezzo
Jette Parker young artist
