In 2025 Preston Opera will be in its 70th year and we will celebrate it with fully staged performances of Verdi's La Traviata, with orchestral accompaniment in Fulwood Academy's theatre. There are very few local opera groups in the UK who are able to perform operas as they're meant to be heard with an orchestra. This provides the opportunity for local amateur singers to perform alongside aspiring and established professional singers. The combination of sublime music and drama is a profound cultural experience. Preston Opera has been able to provide performance opportunities for North West music students, often providing them with their first opportunity to perform with orchestra. Full opera productions such as ours are very expensive to produce and our Live performance Booster Project is intended to generate help finance our show in 2025. It will go towards offsetting our rehearsal costs, orchestral players' costs and help support student principals.

What we'll deliver:

• We will put on 3 or 4 fully staged performances of La Traviata at Fulwood Academy.

Why it's a great idea:

Our project will provide additional financial support that will help to bridge the gap between production costs and income from ticket sales.

Steps to get it done:

• Three or four opera performances in Preston

We also support the early careers of music students in the North West by giving them the opportunity to perform principal roles with orchestra, chorus, costumes and set.