Opera di Peroni winter season - in pictures

GO OPERA director James Hurley, who has relished the challenge of Opera di Peroni’s unique creative collaboration, pushes the boundaries of opera, defying an audience’s expectations and preconceptions. Photograph: Alys Tomlinson

Contemporary costume, hair and makeup helped audiences connect to the characters who were portrayed in a modern context. Photograph: Alys Tomlinson

The part of central character Magda was played by Polish-born soprano Anna Jeruc-Kopec. Costume designer Camille Roman of Tour de Force made her vivid red dress to symbolise how she is objectified as a woman. Photograph: Alys Tomlinson

Opera di Peroni’s version of Puccini’s story is set in a present-day world of celebrity, obsession and scandal. Close friends and hangers-on weave through the action, monitoring the protagonists’ every move. Photograph: Alys Tomlinson

Audience members were invited to get close-up-and-personal to the action, while contemporary props helped to give the performance an “everyday” feel. Photograph: Alys Tomlinson

Magda falls in love with Ruggero, the young journalist sent to interview her. Played by tenor Jung Soo Yun, who debuts at the Royal Opera House this autumn, the romantic young man soon becomes disillusioned by his lover. Photograph: Alys Tomlinson

Camille Roman used the vibrant colours and shapes of the costumes to express the timeless themes of La Rondine: passion, desire and regret. Photograph: Alys Tomlinson

Played by Anna Patalong, a British soprano who trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Lisette is Magda’s maid in Puccini’s original version of the story. In the Opera di Peroni retelling, she is Magda’s faithful, and frantic, PA. Photograph: Alys Tomlinson

Pianist Charlotte Forrest, accompanied by Helen Paskins on clarinet, Tim Birchall on violin and Claire Constable on cello, provided beautiful, live accompaniment. During the production, they were sporadically joined in their performance space by cast members. Photograph: Alys Tomlinson

As well as traditional musicians, producer Kwes added a live “sonic stamp” to the performance. An opera newbie himself, Kwes says he has fallen in love with the artform thanks to his involvement with the Opera di Peroni project. Photograph: Alys Tomlinson

As the drama unfolds in the third act, Lisette (and the captivated audience) realise that all will not end well for lovers Magda and Ruggero. Photograph: Alys Tomlinson

Lisette comforts Magda as her dream of finding true love shatters; the audience were so close they could clearly see Magda’s tears fall and share in her sorrow. Photograph: Alys Tomlinson