THE 2005 season at Longborough Festival Opera opens on Friday, June 17 with Puccini's bittersweet La Boheme in a new production designed especially for LFO by the Opera Project.

There will be a total of 20 performances of three different operas staged in the Palladian-style opera house at Longborough, near Moreton-in-Marsh, through June and July. LFO's own productions of Mozart's The Magic Flute and Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel complete the triple bill. All operas this year will be sung in English.

LFO's new production of Hansel and Gretel will be making good use of the newly extended orchestra pit, using an orchestra of over 40 players. The opera features 14 children all drawn from local schools, carefully coached and prepared by Cirencester's very own Maria Jagusz who also plays the part of Hansel.

Longborough Festival Opera is the brainchild of entrepreneur Martin Graham who has built a fully-fledged professional theatre in the grounds of his house. The company has been producing its own work since 1998. Opera goers are invited to picnic on the lawns before the performance or in the interval. The whole experience makes for an unforgettable and magical evening.

La Boheme will be performed on June 17, 18, 28 and 29, and July 8, 9, 22 and 23. The dates of The Magic Flute are June 24 and 25, and July 1, 2, 6, 29 and 30 and Hansel and Gretel takes place on July 15, 16 19, 20 and 27.

More information and tickets from the box office on 01451 830292 or enquiries@longboroughopera.com. There is also an illustrated website on www.longboroughopera.com