This summer, Pop-Up Opera return with a rarely-seen opera from the late eighteenth century, Cimarosa’s Il Matrimonio Segreto (The Secret Marriage).

With the intention of challenging the way opera is traditionally performed, Pop-Up Opera take their productions into unusual spaces such as the Royal National Lifeboat Institution in Rickmansworth this weekend on Saturday, May 20, the London Museum of Water and Steam on May 25 and the Mill Hill Music Festival on June 20.

The opera’s premiere in Vienna was the occasion of the longest encore in operatic history. Leopold II was so delighted that he ordered supper served to the company and the entire opera repeated immediately after.

Il Matrimonio Segreto tells the tale of a rich Italian businessman as he attempts to marry off one of his daughters to a mad English toff with disastrous results.

Commenting on this rarely performed production, director Max Hoehn, who was recently named Best Young Director at the International Opera Awards, says: “Il Matrimonio Segreto is a wonderful explosion of anarchy with ensembles that fizz and an array of larger-than-life, eccentric characters.

“Cimarosa’s music will be unknown to the vast majority of UK audiences and Pop-Up Opera's rough-and-tumble touring approach makes for a lively marriage.”

With their signature silent movie style captions that add another layer to the performance, Pop-Up Opera adapt their operas to each individual venue, making every performance different.

Artistic director Clementine Lovell comments: “We love the idea of bringing to life an opera which is rarely performed, and making it our own.”

RNLI Rickmansworth, Christ Church, Chorleywood, WD3 5SG, Saturday, May 20, 7.30pm. Details can be found at popupopera.co.uk