Nevill Holt Opera Head To Lincoln Cathedral For Special Performance, 18 June

Nevill Holt Opera Leicestershire's award-winning opera company, will perform for the first time in the breath-taking Lincoln Cathedral, with a concert version of Puccini's heartbreaking La bohème. This special one-off performance will follow a run of La bohème at NHO's home on the beautiful Nevill Holt estate.

Manchester Camerata (Britain's most adventurous orchestra - The Times) accompanies a cast of exceptional opera talent, under the baton of NHO Artistic Director and conductor Nicholas Chalmers.

Puccini's glorious music scores one of opera's greatest and most tragic love stories. When the beautiful seamstress Mimì knocks on the door of the penniless poet Rodolfo their passionate connection is instant, but their happiness is threatened by a tragic discovery. This one-off concert brings world-class operatic talent to Lincoln Cathedral, promising to be an unmissable performance.

The role of the beautiful seamstress Mimì will be performed by Nigerian-American soprano Francesca Chiejina, a graduate of the Royal Opera House's Jette Parker Young Artists Programme; Peter Scott Drackley (Sweeney Todd, Des Moines Metro Opera; Tosca, Anchorage Opera) takes the role of the bohemian Rodolfo; Alexandra Oomens, a Harewood Artist and regular principal singer with English National Opera, is Musetta; Frank Spedding Leider Prize-winning Christopher Nairne is Marcello; Jette Parker Young Artist Dominic Sedgwick is Schaunard; Colline is played by Dingle Yandell (Akhnaten, English National Opera; The Magic Flute, Scottish Opera), who returns after performing at NHO in 2021; and Andrew Tipple (Silverlake, ETO; Le nozze de Figaro, NHO; Death in Venice, Garsington) will perform as Benoit/Alcindoro.

The performance will also feature a chorus of children from Bringhurst Primary School and Lodge Park Academy, both schools which are local to NHO's Leicestershire base. The formation of this Children's Chorus is part of NHO's year-round and well-established education and community programme, which sees the company work with thousands of local young people each year through its partnership with the 34 free schools in the David Ross Education Trust.

The stunning Lincoln Cathedral provides an atmospheric and beautiful setting for this one-off concert performance. Lincoln Cathedral was once the tallest building in the world after the spire was added in 1311, overtaking the Great Pyramid of Giza until 1549, when the spire collapsed in a turbulent storm. Despite the cathedral's dramatic scale there are many small and intricate hidden surprises to discover, including the famous Lincoln Imp. Lincoln Cathedral has been described as out and out the most precious piece of architecture in the British Isles and roughly speaking worth any two other cathedrals we have by John Ruskin, the leading Victorian art critic and writer. Lincoln Cathedral today remains recognised as one of the most precious pieces of architecture in the British Isles and on an international scale.

In 2021, Nevill Holt Opera became one of the only major opera companies in the UK to grow its audience during the pandemic, with The Times describing its new production of La traviata as brave and uplifting. In 2022, the company presents new productions of La bohème and Rossini's sparkling comedy The Barber of Seville alongside a full concert series featuring orchestras, big band jazz, opera, vocal performances, a major Jubilee celebration and more. The Barber of Seville will also tour to Newcastle for two performances at Sage, Gateshead. Nevill Holt Opera believes in bringing exceptional opera to the widest possible audience North of London.

NHO's Artistic Director and conductor of La bohème Nicholas Chalmers says, Through our community and education programmes across the East Midlands, we have been fortunate enough to work quite extensively in and around Lincoln, but we have not yet had a Nevill Holt Opera performance in the city's remarkable cathedral. The beautiful, atmospheric building feels like the perfect match for Puccini's dramatic music, and we can't wait to bring our cast of exceptional opera singers to perform in this very special place.