in 1929, after financial problems had forced the bnoc to disband, the covent garden management set up a touring company to fill the gap, and appointed barbirolli as its musical director and conductor. the operas in the company's first provincial tour included "die meistersinger", "lohengrin", "la bohème", "madama butterfly", "the barber of seville", "tosca", "falstaff", "faust", "cavalleria rusticana", "pagliacci", "il trovatore", and the first performances in english of "turandot." in later tours with the company barbirolli had the chance to conduct more of the german opera repertory, including "der rosenkavalier", "tristan und isolde", and "die walküre". during his years with the touring opera companies barbirolli did not neglect the concert hall. in 1927, deputising at short notice for sir thomas beecham, he conducted the london symphony orchestra in a performance of elgar's symphony no. 2, winning the thanks of the composer. barbirolli also won warm praise from pablo casals, whom he had accompanied in haydn's d major cello concerto at the same concert. he conducted a royal philharmonic society concert at which ralph vaughan williams was presented with the society's gold medal, and another rps concert at which gustav mahler's music, rarely heard at that time, was given – "kindertotenlieder", with elena gerhardt as soloist. although barbirolli later came to love mahler's music, in the 1930s he thought it sounded thin.