Clonter has ended 2007 in fine fettle, thank goodness. Thanks to your enthusiasm about Don Giovanni, we recovered from a slow start and ended triumphantly with full houses for all our performances in October, November and December.

We have, once again, been nominated for the 2007 Manchester Evening Award for Opera (Don Giovanni), having won last year with La Traviata. This is an encouraging endorsement for a rural enterprise from our nearest conurbation.

We, therefore, embark on The Elixir of Love and Carmen with our essential parts refreshed and hope to entice you back once more with our 2008 programme and with our Rory Bremner English Translation. We hope that he will be 'looking in on us' as an added bonus.

You are only as good as your last show in this business but, as we approach the new season, we do have cause for cautious optimism albeit with concerns about renewed funding from Arts Bodies.

'Sufficient unto the day' and 'Happy New Year'.

Jeffery Lockett
Artistic Director, Clonter Opera