Stars of the opera world to perform at show in grounds of Winslow Hall

Tonight (Friday) sees the opening night of Un Ballo in Maschera by Giuseppe Verdi in the grounds of the hall in Sheep Street.

The opera covers themes of illicit love, loyalty and betrayal.

Producer Christopher Gilmour said: “It is a fantastic piece which is not as well known as some of Verdi’s operas, but is still very popular.”

There are plenty of tickets available for the majority of performances, although the one on Sunday July 9 is sold-out.

Mr Gilmour urged anyone who had not been to see an opera before to come and give it a try.

He said: “You can’t go wrong with Verdi’s works!

“Hopefully we have good weather, we have been very lucky the last few years.

“The performances are in a covered marquee and the acoustics really are fantastic.”

It is something of a family affair with Christopher Gilmour producing and his brother Oliver conducting.

They are part of a team of more than 60 people involved with putting the opera on.

Mr Gilmour said: “We have a team of about 15 people working on the technical and creative aspects of the performance.

“We have five or six people working on the musical side and then we have on stage the conductor, eight singers and a 29 strong orchestra.”

The singers include Rosalind Plowright, described as one of the country’s leading opera singers, and Vasile Chisiu, an internationally-renowned singer who received rave reviews during his last visit to Winslow Hall Opera in 2014.

Performances take place at 6pm this evening (Friday) and at the same time on Tuesday 11 and Thursday 13 July.

There is a 5pm show on Saturday July 15 and 3pm shows on Sunday July 9 (sold out) and July 16.

Tickets range from £75 to £95 and are available by calling the box office on 07544 726501 or by e-mailing [email protected].

The photograph above was taken during a dress rehearsal on Wednesday July 5.