"Bath Opera is coming to Wales for the first time with its summer tour of ’La Bohème’ by Puccini. They will perform at 7.30pm this Friday night ( June 29) at the Beaufort Theatre, Ebbw Vale.

This exciting venture has been made possible by the close working relationship that has developed between Bath Opera and Sue Lewis, the artistic director at the Beaufort , following a suggestion by Mark Read of MDR Theatre Productions , who is the regular technician at the theatre, as well as Bath Opera’s favourite lighting designer!

There is also an educational angle to the venture, thanks to the considerable help by Lynda Maddy of the Ebbw Fawr Learning Community. In the last week, Bath Opera’s Musical Director Peter Blackwood has led a workshop with 50 children aged 11-16 at the Learning Campus, introducing them to opera and to ’La Bohème’. Many of the children will be going to the full performance with the benefit of the workshop introduction.

’La Bohème’ is often called the world’s favourite opera, with its beautiful arias and tragic love story, and it is the ideal introduction to those who have not been to an opera before.

Bath Opera is very fortunate in having four brilliant young singers playing the principal roles. Fresh from their triumphant performance of ’Jenufa’ in Bath in February, Luke Daniel and Julia O’Connor play the poet Rodolfo and the seamstress Mimi, who meet and fall in love in the Bohemian quarter of Paris. They are joined by Rodolfo’s friends Musetta, played by Kate Eastment, and Marcello, played by Anthony Sanchez Harris. Julia and Kate are both studying under international soprano Isobel Buchanan [phone and email contact details available] who is Bath Opera’s Honorary Patron, and the singing of all four is worth the ticket money alone!

Peter Blackwood is Bath Opera’s resident conductor and he has been responsible for the last twenty Bath Opera productions. The stage director is Tom Magnone who has directed many operas for the company over the last 10 years."