Albert Herring

English Touring Opera presents Benjamin Britten's comic depiction of English village life. Full of character, matching humour with psychological insight, it describes the election by village committee of a shy local lad in a grocer's shop as May King – a title normally awarded as May Queen to a virtuous girl, but no one matches up to the exacting standards of virtue held by Lady Billows. Naturally, the crowning of the May King does not go quite as planned, and poor (or lucky) Albert Herring ends up straying rather far from the path of virtue. Michael Rosewell conducts Aurora Orchestra; the director is Christopher Rolls. The cast includes singers and actors as Lady Billows (Jennifer Rhys-Davies) and her committee, with Mark Wilde in the title role as the youth they judge so severely. (New production, sung in English. Running time: 2 hours and 40 minutes.)