From 1893, when Puccini’s Manon Lescaut was first performed (a week before Verdi’s last opera, Falstaff) he came to international acclaim with La Boheme, Tosca, and Madam Butterfly - culminating in his final work, the unfinished masterpiece: Turandot. This was in 1924.

100 years on it is easy to see how he became the natural successor to Verdi. However, in succeeding The Master, it turns out he was to become the Last Master of Italian Opera - for, though much imitated, he has never been equalled, and music has travelled in very different directions since.

Guest conductor, Simon Gray has worked as conductor with Regency Opera, English Festival Opera, European Chamber Opera, the Carl Rosa Opera Company and Holland Park, in Madrid, Singapore, Paris, and Bergamo, and St James’s Palace - will be leading Heber Opera’s Chorus and Soloists in a thrilling journey through Puccini’s life and timelessly passionate music, alongside that of Verdi and others who built and inhabited the glorious world that Puccini came to rule.