The Israel National Opera was Israel's principal opera company from its founding in 1947 until its demise in 1982. It was founded by the American soprano Edis de Phillipe and had staged over 1000 performances throughout Israel by 1958. The scarcity of trained Israeli opera singers led the company to bring in international guest artists. During the early 1960s both Plácido Domingo and his wife Marta Ornelas were principal singers with the company. Lack of government funding led to the company's final closure in 1982 after several years of financial problems.