On Saturday 6 June 2009 WNO opened its doors with a day of free events giving people the opportunity to find out more about their very own opera company.

Events included an opera trail, masterclasses, wigs, wardrobe and props demonstrations and surprise impromptu operatic scenes.

People who have never been to an opera before came to get a taste of the magic of opera, and those who had been to an opera found plenty of activities to engage and entertain.

"I would like to congratulate all those involved in the WNO open day yesterday in the WMC. We spent the day there and thoroughly enjoyed all the activities.

John Fisher's Master Class was absolutely enthralling and certainly made us appreciate the hard work involved in preparing for a role.

It was great to see so many children around the building...and the faces of all those involved - parents and children- showed their enjoyment.

So our congratulations to all - it does take such a lot of hard work to organise such an event and the appalling weather must have prevented some people from coming. But you must have won a lot of young converts to opera." Vanessa Bennett