It's now been two weeks since completing this wonderful run of Don Giovanni for Opera Holland Park and I've finally laid my hands in some nice pictures that I'd like to share with you all.

Many thanks to Alex Brenner for taking such wonderful shots of a wonderful show. It was one of the most satisfying rehearsal and performance processes I've ever been involved in, with a team of colleagues so focused on achieving the same excellent result that it all went by really quickly. And what a thrill it was to deliver this show on stage with all of them! It was such an energetically charged evening and that definitely translated to the audience who responded in a really enthusiastic way to our show.

One of the days going to rehearsal was unfortunately very sombre, due to the proximity between Opera Holland Park and the Grenfell Tower. It was absolutely heart-breaking to see a column of smoke rising behind the theatre and finding out later that a staff member had unfortunately perished. The Company is putting together a wonderful memorial performance of Verdi’s Requiem on August 1st with all funds going to the victims of the inferno and if you can attend, I would urge you to. You can find all the details here.

The week after the show, I had the good fortune of traveling to Italy for a few days both for work but also for a well deserved break. I stayed in the lovely town of Treviso which is just 30 mins away from Venice by train and because I had some time available, I went there for the first time in my life.

Words cannot describe Venice. It's such a special and magical place! I only had one afternoon to spend there, but I walked for 6h non-stop to make the most of my visit. The constant rumbling of water all around makes it one of the most soothing cities I've even been to (despite the infamous number of tourists always around), and the architecture and the colours are simply breathtaking.

I'll leave you with some pictures I captured with my phone of this journey. The first lot is from Trevisto and then it's Venice in all its splendour.