GIANNI SCHICCHI RETURNS TO ST PAUL'S OPERA - July 1st, 2nd & 3rd, 2021

With hopeful news of a release from Lockdown we have been able to look to the summer and begin planning our summer Opera Festival – we simply couldn't go another year without bringing you an operatic production from SPO!

While we enjoy a renewed confidence with the rollout of the vaccination programme, we are only too aware of the caution we must maintain on the path to 'normality'. Unfortunately the planned lifting of restrictions would not allow us sufficient time to prepare the staging of Britten's Albert Herring, so we are mothballing our plans for this marvellous opera for another year.

Instead we are bringing you Puccini’s one act comic opera Gianni Schicchi: it was the very first opera staged by SPO in 2013. The combination of the verismo hilarious plot of a scheming family anticipating the spoils of a dead relative's will, with the beauty of Puccini's music will be a thrill to behold.

One of the highlights of last summer was an al fresco gala concert in the expansive grounds of St Paul’s in the Old Town. The musicians were delighted to be able to perform to a live audience after months of lockdown while the tickets all went within a couple of hours of being released, Glastonbury-style.

“Our audience loved it: it was a real joy for them to see and hear some wonderful live music at last,” says Tricia Ninian, SPO founder. “So we have decided to repeat the idea this summer by moving our Opera Festival outside, ensuring the event can go ahead."

Please hold the dates in your diary – July 1-3, 2021 (Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights). And keep watching out for news of more treats in store for the evening, as well as the announcement, in early June, of tickets going on sale. Full details will be announced on these pages in due course.