DONIZETTI's best-loved comic opera, The Elixir of Love, is being brought to West Devon by the Garden Opera Company on its 2000 al fresco tour of the country throughout the summer.
The company will be performing at a number of Devon venues this month, including Friday July 21 at Millpond, Chagford (box office 01647 433595), and on Friday July 28 at Roadford Lake, near Okehampton (box office: 01392 211080).
With beautiful Edwardian costumes, a pastoral setting, gorgeous tunes and an hilarious story, this much-loved melodic romp promises to be one of the highlights of the summer season.
The opera has one of the most celebrated of all arias, the romanza, Una Furtiva Lagrima (A Secret Tear), which has been made even more famous by the Three Tenors'. But comedy and gaiety rather than tears are the hallmark of this splendid romp which chronicles the attempts by the clumsy farmhand Nemorino to win the hand of the beautiful, wealthy and haughty landowner's daughter, Adina.
The opera will be sung in English by some of the profession's finest young singers accompanied by a piano sextet under the direction of Peter Bridges. There will be a long interval during which picnics with friends may be enjoyed.