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Local group stages greatest English opera

Helen Bruce - singer.

Helen Bruce - singer.

Music lovers take note that our local opera group, Opera South East, are giving an English double bill at the White Rock Theatre over the last weekend of April. The programme comprises two short operas – Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Gilbert and Sullivan’s Trial by Jury – that are ‘both quintessentially English in very different ways’, according to chorus manager Sandra Lambourne. Dido, which Sandra described to the Voice as ‘possibly the greatest English opera’, is being given an interesting modern staging. ‘It’s set now. Perhaps ironically, because it’s mythology it’s timeless and can be set in any period,’ says Sandra.
 Opera South East, which has premises at 111 Bohemia Road, began life 25 years ago as Hastings Opera. They are unusual in being a pro-am company that concentrates mainly on opera. The principal singers (see picture) for this production are all professionals, as are many members of the orchestra, while the chorus members are amateurs. 
Sandra also told us that the current productions will be taken to Schwerte in Germany at the beginning of May, and that the company’s next production at the White Rock will be a staging of Rossini’s La Cenerentola in November. The Dido and Aeneas/Trial by Jury double bill can be seen at the same theatre on either Friday 27th or Saturday 28th April at 7.30pm. Tickets are £15 each for the best seats or £12 for cheaper seats or concessions. Phone the White Rock Theatre on 0870 1451 133.

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