Olivier Award-winning touring opera company, OperaUpClose, is bringing live opera back to Guernsey with a staged production of its critically-acclaimed La Bohème. One of the most accessible and moving operas ever written, this modern staging will appeal to both existing opera lovers and younger audiences who have never been to a live opera performance. Sung in English, and with a story that is highly relevant to the burning issues facing young people today, it is aimed at music lovers of all ages.

This clever English translation of La Bohème brings relevant issues such as immigration and the aspirations of youth to the forefront as a group of idealistic graduates bicker, party and try to make ends meet as they follow their dreams. And all this set to Puccini’s glorious music, which can never fail to uplift all who hear it.

Set within the vibrant streets of London’s hugely creative Soho, this was OperaUpClose’s first production, opening in 2009. Since then the company has won numerous awards and accolades for its innovatively staged, accessible, affordable and high-quality English re-imaginings of well-known works, as well as premieres of new operas.

This production of La Bohème has been revived for OperaUpClose’s 10th Anniversary.

kindly sponsored by Kleinwort Hambros.

After a short stint as an actress in the Royal Shakespeare Company Nina Conti became a ventriloquist and hasn’t looked back since.

Last year she won a British Comedy Award for her appearances on ‘Live at the Apollo’. Other television credits include QI, Russell Howard’s Good News, Sunday Night at the Palladium, The John Bishop Show and Christopher Guest’s HBO series Family Tree.

Nina is also a regular in Clare and the Community – the long running BBC Radio 4 comedy. In addition, Nina has turned her hand to documentary film-making with her most recent exploit ‘Clowning Around’ (in which she trained as a children’s hospital clown) airing to great critical acclaim. Her directorial debut’ Her Master’s Voice’ in which she took the bereaved puppets of her mentor, Ken Campbell, to a puppet graveyard in Kentucky won her a BAFTA nomination and a Grierson Award.

Doors/Bar 6.30PM | Show: 7.30PM

WaterColour Matchbox present a night of heavy rock with a twist. Bringing together the likes of award-winning and local composer Lydia Pugh, with a choral and orchestral ensemble, they plan on bridging the gap between classical instrumentation and modern heavy rock, in a way that has never been done before on the island. Doubling up as the launch date for their upcoming album ‘Pathways’, you can prepare for an evening of powerful riffs blended with precise orchestral arrangements written especially for the occasion. The night will be one not to be missed. Support from local acts to be confirmed.