In 1886 Ella Russell made her début, while both the Abbé Liszt and Rubinstein paid their last visits to England. It was on this visit that Rubinstein gave that wonderful series of seven historical concerts at the St James's Hall, which realised no less than £6000 gross receipts.
The Jubilee year is noteworthy for the advent of Augustus Harris into operatic management, for we find him giving a season at Drury Lane for which he has secured a new tenor, Jean de Rezké, then practically unknown to London audiences. The artist opened in "Aïda," and obtained a complete triumph.
With 1888, Harris becomes lessee and operative director of Covent Garden, with a strong social support and subscription to grand tier boxes, and commences work with Melba and the two de Rezkés, Albani, Trebelli, Arnoldson, Zélie de Lussan, Ella Russell, Lassalle, and Margaret Macintyre, Garcia's pupil.
In 1889, the year of Carl Rosa's death, we have two important events. "Romeo et Juliette" is given in French, instead of Italian, with a superb cast, of which the star parts are taken as follows:—
| Juliette | Melba. |
| Romeo | Jean de Rezké. |
| Friar Laurent | Edouard de Rezké. |
Moreover, in July, Jean de Rezké takes part for the first time in an Italian version of "Die Meistersinger," with this cast:—
| Ena | Madame Albani. |
| Magdalena | Mdlle. Bauermeister. |
| Walther | M. Jean de Rezké. |
| Hans Sachs | M. Lassalle. |
| Beekmesser | M. Isnardon. |
| David | M. Montariol. |
| Pogner | Signor Abramoff. |
| Kothner | M. Winogradon. |
The early summer of 1890 witnessed the London début of the successor to Liszt and Rubinstein, of the greatest of the fin de siècle group of great pianists—Ignace de Paderewski. He was announced for a series of four recitals at the St James's Hall. The first of these was given on May 9 before a meagre and coldly critical audience, the second to a better audience, which improved again with the remaining ones. But it was not until the following season that the conquest was completed, and the meagre attendance became a thing of the past. In fact, his Chopin Recital at St James's Hall, in the July of 1891, drew the largest crowd and the highest receipts recorded since the final visit of Rubinstein. The early months of this year, moreover, witnessed an operatic experiment which was destined to mark the climax of the modern development of English Opera. D'Oyly Carte built the "Royal English Opera House," engaged a double company, and opened it with a repertory of one work, "Ivanhoe." The cast on the opening night of Sir Arthur Sullivan's work was as follows:—
| Rebecca | Marguerite Macintyre |
| (Garcia's pupil). | |
| Rowena | Esther Palliser. |
| Ivanhoe | Ben Davies. |
| Richard Cœur de Lion | Norman Salmond. |
| Cedric | Ffrangçon Davies. |
| Friar Tuck | Avon Saxon. |
| Isaac of York | Charles Copland. |
| and | |
| The Templar | Eugene Oudin. |