Oxfordshire Contemporary Opera was founded after the success of a first production, Lizzie Strata. The Opera, based on the comedy Lysistrata by Aristophanes, was performed at College House, Stanton St John, under the banner of Stanton St John Opera Company. It starred Dawn Burns, and its success made the team that wrote and produced that opera determined to repeat the formula with a formalised and expanded remit for the whole of Oxfordshire.