FOR its next performance, the Hillingdon Philharmonic Orchestra is staging a concert of opera favourites, featuring music by Bizet, Mozart, Puccini, Verdi, Wagner and more.  

Highlights will include Puccini’s Nessun Dorma, remembered as the theme for the BBC coverage of the Italia ‘90 World Cup, and ultimately performed by the Three Tenors at the event.

O mio babbino caro will again be instantly recognisable to many from the film A Room with a View, where it provided a perfect accompaniment for the scenes in Florence.

Other favourites will include Bizet’s Duet from The Pearl Fishers plus his Toreador’s Song from Carmen and Verdi’s La Donna e Mobile.

Professional vocal soloists Natasha Page, Yuri Sabatini and Alistair Sutherland will join the group to perform these much-loved moments.

The musicians, too, no longer hidden in the orchestra pit of the opera house but on stage for all to see, will perform a selection of their own highlights.

From Mozart’s Overture to The Marriage of Figaro to Massenet’s Meditation from Thais, there will be something for everyone. 

Hillingdon Philharmonic Orchestra has more than 60 registered members, who have performed not just in the borough but also at venues including the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Southwark Cathedral.

A Night at the Opera will be led by Lucy Cumming and conducted by the founder of the orchestra, Peter J. Williams.

A Night at the Opera. Saturday, March 18, 7.30pm, at Winston Churchill Theatre, Manor Farm, Pinn Way, Ruislip. Tickets: £15 (concessions £12, under-16s free). Book online at: www.hillingdontheatres.uk  Call 01895 674223 or 01895 250615. Tickets also available on the door until sold out.