Henry Little was appointed as Chief Executive of Opera Rara in November 2015. Since then he has led the company in several projects; La Princesse de Trébizonde which won the OPER! award for best opera recording of 2023. Il proscritto which won the 2023 International Opera Award for best Opera recording, Anima Rara with soprano Ermonela Jaho which won the 2020 International Classical Music Award and the 2020 Presto Music Recording of the year; Zazà and Echo and Espoir, all of which were nominated for an International Opera Award for best opera recording. Opera Rara’s recording of Semiramide was released in September 2018 to international critical acclaim winning both the International Opera Award for Best Opera Recording as well as several other prestigious international awards for Best Opera Recording. In July of 2019, Opera Rara mounted the world premiere of Donizetti’s L’Ange de Nisida at the Royal Opera House in London and the release of the live recording has met with critical acclaim, winning the OPER! award for best Opera recording. Opera Rara’s recording of Puccini’s first opera Le Willis with Ermonela Jaho was released in September 2019. Henry negotiated a new partnership with Warner Classics, who, from 2018 have been Opera Rara’s exclusive worldwide distributor. He has led the charity’s fundraising campaigns which have achieved contributed income of over £5 million during his eight year tenure. Previously Chief Executive of national music charity, Orchestras Live for seven years, Henry led two successful bids to Arts Council England to achieve National Portfolio status and secured funding of £3.4 million. He has a long and varied track record of work in opera which began with three years as a freelance stage director, before joining ENO as a Resident Staff Director. Henry moved briefly to British Youth Opera as Company and General Manager, and later to artists’ management where he worked specifically with singers, conductors and directors. Prior to joining Orchestras Live, he spent ten years at the Arts Council where he worked as Head of Opera and Music Theatre and was subsequently appointed as Interim Director, Music Strategy.
Henry is Chairman of the National Opera Coordinating Committee in the UK, and from 2009 to 2015, was Chairman of the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards Jury for Opera and Music Theatre. He has been a jury member for the Armel Opera Festival and Competition in Budapest since 2010. He was a Trustee of Mahogany Opera Group until 2017. He is a Director of Welsh National Opera, a Founder Director of Opera UK and a Trustee of Brixton Chamber Orchestra.
He is married with a son and lives in Brixton in South London.