Watch: the moving tribute to the victims of Grenfell Tower by Opera Holland Park

1 August 2017, 17:06 | Updated: 1 August 2017, 17:25

Debbie Lamprell, who died in the fire in West London, worked at Opera Holland Park. The cast performed this encore in tribute to her and all the victims of the tragedy

Opera Holland Park is near to the site of the Grenfell Tower tragedy and the company has been directly affected by the fire. Debbie Lamprell, a member of staff for the company, lost her life in the tragedy.

On 23 June, just over a week after the disaster, the cast of La Rondine at Opera Holland Park, performed an encore in tribute to all the victims of the fire.

The aria is ‘I’ll drink to your beautiful smile’ (‘Bevo al tuo fresco sorriso’) from Puccini’s La Rondine.

Soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn performs the lead role of Magda, tenor Matteo Lippi is Ruggero, soprano Tereza Gevorgyan is Lisette and tenor Stephen Aviss is Prunier.

Opera Holland Park will be staging a performance of Verdi’s Requiem today 1 August in support of the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire. Book tickets and find out more here.

We went backstage at rehearsals for the performance 

Michael Volpe, the opera company's general director told Classic FM:

“We lost a member of our team in the fire, so it's been a very troubling time for the whole company. We were very deeply affected by her loss, she was a valued member of the team and everybody knew her.

“We wanted to do something for her but equally we have a lot of people who know this area very well, have grown up in this part of London, so we felt it was appropriate since we are so close to the tower geographically as well as our personal links to it, that we had to raise some money for a charity who we have always worked with, the Rugby Portobello Trust

“Tonight's performance will be conducted by Sian Edwards and Peter Robinson and the City of London Sinfonia is performing alongside the Opera Holland Park Chorus, soprano Anne Sophie Duprels, mezzo Yvonne Howard, tenor Neal Cooper and bass Barnaby Rea. All the proceeds from this evening's performance will go to the RPT.”