A father and daughter from Chorleywood are going to be performing together in the premiere of a brand new production of the famous opera Semele.

Robert Murray is an opera singer with more than 20 years’ experience. He has toured the world since training at the Royal College of Music and the National Opera Studio.

He has performed many of the most infamous major roles in opera, appearing at venues such as the Royal Opera House, the London Coliseum and at the BBC Proms.

He will be taking the lead male role of Jupiter in Garsington Opera's production of Semele which opened earlier this month and runs until July 30.

His daughter, Lara, is currently in year two at Chorleywood Primary School and will be joining her father on stage at to play one of Juno's seven daughters in the story. 

Robert says: "When we started rehearsing Semele, Garsington Opera were looking for a six-year-old girl to play one of my daughters. I suddenly realised I've got one of those! It went from there.

“It has been absolutely brilliant to share the stage with Lara.  All the girls (there are seven on stage) have done a fantastic job. Occasionally it gets a bit confusing from the side of the stage (or even occasionally on stage) I'll find myself lost in pride watching her, then suddenly remember I have a job to do too.

We are so grateful to Chorleywood Primary School for allowing Lara to take this special opportunity."

Garsington Opera is a two-month-long Country House Opera Festival which runs annually at the Getty Estate in Wormsley.

This year it runs from 1 June to 30 July and Semele is one of five operas being performed over that time.

It is the first time that Semele will be performed at the Festival in its 28 year history, and Robert and Lara will be performing in it alongside a large cast of the very best opera singers and musicians from around the world.

Garsington Opera is renowned for giving performances of great artistic quality in a setting of extraordinary natural beauty. Performances take place in the spectacular Opera Pavilion, which sits within the rolling landscape of the Chiltern Hills.

For the first time this year the Festival has expanded greatly is presenting a programme of five operas, rather than three in past years. Productions have previously gone on to be performed in European Festivals, and the company's 2007 production of Richard Strauss's Die agyptische Helena was presented at the Metropolitan Opera, New York. 

Details: garsingtonopera.org