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Founded by Denis Coe, British Youth Opera nurtures and trains young operatic talent by offering the experience of working in a professional company and performing at major venues. British Youth Opera, in association with Southbank Sinfonia, returns to the Peacock Theatre for an eighth year, with two new productions featuring the next generation of professional opera singers. Mozart s masterly comedy of class, cross-dressing, mistaken identities and marriage, Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata (The Marriage of Figaro, or The Day of Madness), provides a perfect vehicle for the high-energy performances that have become a hallmark of British Youth Opera productions. Written in 1946, Britten s chamber opera The Rape of Lucretia is an intimate portrayal of a personal tragedy with historic consequences, set against a backdrop of war. The iconic tale of the last Prince of Rome s assault on the virtuous Lucretia makes for a piece of darkly dramatic and morally ambiguous theatre, its searing intensity heightened by Britten s music: dramatic, lyrical, and perfectly suited to a cast drawn from the country s top young singers.