Opera Prelude:“Glitter and be Gay: Opera, Hollywood and Old-Fashioned Glamour”

Rosie Clifford (mezzo) and Opera Prelude’s young artists accompanied by Natalie Burch.

"Glitter and be gay, that's the part I play"; so sings Cunegonde in Leonard Bernstein's masterpiece Candide, lamenting the loss of her virtue in exchange for the superficial whirl of jewels, parties and high society. Opera has never been short of such figures - both in operatic characters and in the singers themselves. The first divas (and, indeed, divos) of the operatic world were the superstars of their age; precursors of the screen idols of the Silver Age of Hollywood. From the singers catapulted to stardom by Mozart and Rossini to the legends of both stage and screen, and the characters who linked the two, join Rosie Clifford for a morning of glitz, glamour and vocal fireworks!

Opera Prelude is a small charity about supporting young professional opera singers who give lecture recitals in London. These friendly and inclusive events will introduce you to the international opera singers of tomorrow by way of recitals, concerts and masterclasses.