PREPARATIONS for the new season at Longborough Festival Opera are now well under way and this year's season will be very much a Cotswold affair, involving many local singers.

The season opens on Friday, June 17, and there will be 20 performances of the three different operas staged at the Palladian-styled opera house at Longborough, between Moreton and Stow, until Saturday, July 20.

Longborough Festival Opera is the brainchild of entrepreneur Martin Graham who has built a fully-fledged professional theatre in the grounds of his house.

Puccuni's bittersweet La Boheme opens the season in a fresh production designed especially for LFO by the Opera Project. LFO's own productions of Mozart's Magic Flute and Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel complete the triple bill. All operas this year will be sung in English.

Mezzo soprano Maria Jagusz will be coaching a chorus of talented Gloucestershire singers, along with one from Worcestershire, for the new production of La Boheme as well as 14 children from local schools for Hansel and Gretel. She will also be singing the role of Hansel in Hansel and Gretel and running workshops in schools in the area.

"Longborough Festival Opera has been producing new work since 1998. This year, all three billed operas are produced by LFO or exclusively for LFO and cannot be seen elsewhere," said spokesman Charlotte Ooi.

All performances start at 6.30pm and have a 75-minute interval for picnicking in the grounds or dining in the LFO restaurant.

For information contact the box office on 01451 830292 or enquiries@longboroughopera.com There is also an illustrated website www.longboroughopera.com,