this is bbc news. the headlines... police in the uk declare a "major incident" in birmingham city centre — after number of people are stabbed in the area tougher coronavirus restrictions have come into force in bolton — the area which now has the highest infection rate in england a coronavirus lockdown in the australian city of melbourne is extended for another two weeks the uk's chief brexit negotiator david frost says the government is not "scared" of walking away from trade talks and california declares a state of emergency after record heatwaves lead to more wildfires now on bbc news, a behind—the—scenes look as some of the biggest names in italian opera gatherfor a glittering night of music under the stars in verona. music plays.

italy, home of opera — and the night the music came alive again at the famous roman arena in verona. after months of silence, a dazzling gala concert with a big cast of italian opera stars. they sing. i missed to go and to put my feet on the stage — to feel the power of the orchestra. i'm going behind the scenes to find out what the future

holds for live opera. music is something that goes directly to the soul. it's not important, you know, the quality now, we start to think about the quality later, maybe in a few months, but now, let's do music. and will audiences return? i'm from verona, and the arena, it is our place to meet and enjoy music. so it was very important for me to be here tonight — the first occasion of reopening it. he sniffles. sorry. they sing.

for an opera fan such as myself, it's a real treat to visit the roman amphitheatre in verona in northern italy — which since 1913, has hosted a summer opera festival. but it's with some trepidation that i come here, because like many, i'm wondering how live opera performances are going to survive the coronavirus crisis. the arena's general manager and artistic director, cecilia gasdia, has invited me to come and see for myself how she and her team are all pulling together to make this year's festival work.

cecilia tells me that social distancing rules mean, for now, operas are being staged in concert form — with no lavish sets and costumes and without intervals. cecilia turned to management after a long career as a celebrated soprano. she's performed at the arena and appreciates its marvellous acoustics.

the opening concert is dedicated to italy's health workers. about 25 of the country's opera stars are singing arias from italian opera. i joined them at last—minute rehearsals in a nearby venue. but how did opera singers keep themselves in shape to prepare themselves for a live performance after months of lockdown? well, opera singers are a little bit like athletes — their artform is physically demanding, and they have to constantly train and use their voice to maintain their fitness. the world renowned tenor francesco meli and his soprano wife, serena giambrone, could at least practice together during lockdown at home in genoa.

the audience is... cos you see... i don't know, many, many people are very different, like the theatre and everybody is here for you, for the performers, for the... ..to take the emotion, and the whole arena is like this. lockdown has been tough on singers. many artists worldwide like soprano donata d'annunzui lombardi are facing very uncertain futures. i had many cancellations, because i had five productions that were cancelled. this is the destiny for every artist

for every singer in this period. but anyway, i think that a real artist is always free to build another world, another... opportunity? yes, opportunity. # ave maria...#. bass baritone alex kept up his singing via video links during italy's strict quarantine period. alex lost a friend to covid—i9 and believes he suffered himself. i started with symptoms, fever, tiredness, and i lost the taste and the smell. so i'm quite sure that i had it, and i was alone. i would've been scared. you are from bergamot, which is one of the cities that was worst affected

by the coronavirus pandemic. how did you feel when all of that was going on? very sad, of course, because i have a lot of friends there and relatives, of course. and they told me the only two sounds they could hear, it was of the ambulance and the bells of the church for dead people. so, how did you manage to maintain your normal routine of practising your vocal exercises and so on? of course, when i started to feel better, i thought, what was the future of my life and of myjob, of course and my art? it was soon possible, i started to practice again alone to move my voice and to run to the light because i wanted to exit from this.

lombardi was the part of italy at the pandemic‘s epicentre in which 35,000 italians died. milan is the regional capital, and mezzo—soprano annalisa stroppa lives just outside the city. she sings. yeah, the first month for me was totally in silence. because i feel that the voice didn't want to sing. i was not in a mood. are you worried about the future for opera and future performances in other parts of the world? it's a very worrying period. of course, everybody thinks of how it will be in the future, how we can come back to work. the music is my life. it's not only a job for me.

i miss a lot the relationship with the public, i miss to go and to put my feet on the stage — to feel the power of the sounds of the orchestra. mounting operas is extremely expensive, and operating with audiences at greatly reduced capacity is just not financially viable. how can theatres survive? the arena normally seats 13,500, but with current guidelines, that's had to drop right down to 3,000. outside the arena, i see a group of artists demanding more government funding for the arts.

as general manager, cecilia gasdia oversees 1,400 staff at the arena di verona. her leadership qualities were apparent from childhood. she was the second of three daughters. but could nature wreck months of planning? there is heavy rain in the run—up the concert. even the 14th century italian poet dante seems to be wondering if the weather will spoil it.

relief all around, the sun appears for the stars of italian opera. and as final preparations get under way, i catch up with one of the conductors, ricardo frizza, and ask him what it's like to conduct an orchestra with new social distancing rules. it's difficult, it's not the same as before. because, of course, the more distance between the musicians, there's been more complications for the ensemble, for them playing together. does the music suffer in quality because of social distancing, in your opinion? yes.

it lacks a bit of precision. but i think it's better to lack precision than stop the music. music is something that goes directly to the soul, it's not important, you know, the quality now. we will start to get into the quality maybe later, in a few months, but now, let's do music. 0ne singer limbers up his voice at the arena and attracts a few curious passersby. he sings. at last, the countdown begins. well, there's an air of nervous expectancy. it's just over an hour before tonight's gala concert begins, and the tension is almost palpable.

musicians from the orchestra slowly taking up their position behind me, and also members of the audience are taking their place. this is the first time that the arena di verona is staging a live performance since lockdown ended. there are even some members of the paparazzi assembled, because there are various dignitaries in the audience, including the president of the italian senate. it's also a return to the arena for locals and visitors. why have you decided to come to the opera tonight? to support the arts, but also because a lot of people every year come here to verona to see the opera. i still remember when i came to my office, because i still had the right to go to the office, most people couldn't. and i live just a few streets down there, and i came to my office which is over here, and the entire square was a total desert. it was so heartbreaking. so unbelievably heartbreaking, and it's so great to

see it alive again. i think it's very important for the people staying in verona. and are you nervous about sitting in the audience with many people? no. no, no. absolutely not. this isn'tjust an important event for the arena di verona. it's also very significant for the whole of the italian nation, because it represents a reawakening of the country's culture. there is one big difference, though, this time, hand sanitiser, and i have to have my temperature checked... ..before i can go in. and unless you're performing, masks are compulsory. gong rings. and they like to start them young at the arena di verona.

six—year—old lucas conducts the national anthem. and then we are in for a treat, as one opera star after another performs solo on stage. she sings.

so, annalisa stroppa, and the audience absolutely love her. she's a very attractive, engaging performer — singing aria there, rosina in the very popular barber of seville by rossini, and rosina determined to use all her wiles to capture the heart of her dashing lover. he sings. and now we have donata lombardi — who is singing, again, a very famous aria from tosca by puccini. she sings.

violin plays. he sings.

so, you can see how the audience absolutely loved francesco meli — singing an aria there from il trovatore by verdi. the knight talking about his eternal love for his fiancee, leonora. and considered to be the leading tenor here in italy, francesco meli, and, you can just tell from the reaction of the audience here that they loved it. bravo! she sings.

applause. he sings. and the last performer is the extraordinary baritone, leo nucci, singing an aria for my favourite opera — rigoletto by verdi.

applause. then the artistic director cecelia gasida joins in the finale — a personal triumph for her. the arena di verona has not been silenced. they sing.

the title of the rousing popular neapolitan song which the opera stars sing at the end of the concert is o sole mio — meaning "oh, my sunshine." well, with economic downturns and warnings of new waves of covid—19, let us indeed hope that we can all look forward to a sunnier future. they sing. hello.

well, for most of us, overall, today, the weather is not looking bad at all. we have a mixture of sunny spells, a few fleeting showers. that is pretty much it. if you are unlucky you might run into a downpour of thunder and lightning. or if you are lucky, depending on your point of view! here is the satellite picture and we have some clouds streaming in from the north—west. it is fairly thin and broken cloud for most of us, so hence the sunny spells are getting through. these are the showers as we go through the afternoon, across parts of northern england and wales, just that possibility of a downpour across the south in the afternoon. but for the vast majority of the uk, it is dry weather, and temperatures getting up into the high teens, possibly 20 degrees in the afternoon in london. now, tonight, it remains dry in england and wales, but rain is expected in scotland and northern ireland. certainly by the end of the night. so, in belfast and glasgow it is likely to be a soggy monday morning. temperatures overnight will be around that 10 degrees mark.

now, on monday, we have high pressure to the south of the country, so keeping things dry for the southern counties. in the north we have weather fronts and we are also quite close to low pressure, so more of a breeze. quite windy around the western isles of scotland, and you can see all of that cloud and rain moving across scotland, northern ireland, the lake district, the north—west, also around northern wales. but the south—east and east anglia probably staying quite bright on monday with temperatures getting up to around 21 degrees. now, tuesday, and really through the middle of the week, with high pressure to the south and this current of slightly warmer, more humid air, it is going to feel really muggy and often cloudy and murky, i think, particularly around western areas of the uk. this sort of situation, we get drizzle and light rain around the western coast, the coast of wales, down into the south—west, too. in the east, however, in that situation, clouds often break up. and if they do, if the lengthy sunny spells develop,

temperatures do get up to 25 degrees. 22 is quite conservative. towards the end of the week, certainly by thursday, fresher air coming in from the north, moving the oranges back into the yellows. there will be a dip in temperature, but despite the spell of rain on monday, the weather or not looking too bad for most of us. goodbye!

this is bbc news, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. police in the uk declare a "major incident" in birmingham city centre — after number of people are stabbed in the area — one local bar worker said there was an escalation of violence i have always seen quite a lot of fights and drunken commotions, but there was nothing quite like tonight. this is the scene live in the centre of birmingham, where we're expecting an update from the police shortly. tougher coronavirus restrictions have come into force in bolton, the area which now has the highest infection rate in england. a coronavirus lockdown in the australian city of melbourne i have always seen quite a lot of fights and drunken commotions, but there was nothing quite like tonight.