Preparations are gathering apace for the staging of Roger Waters' opera in the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil next month. There will be three performances of Ça Ira at the 12th Amazonas Opera Festival in Manaus, on the 15th, 22nd and 24th April.

Being held at the spectacular, 700-seat Teatro Amazonas (Amazon Theatre), tickets are sure to go fast. We've been chatting to Lika Geribello, the executive producer of the event, who has given us some insight into the event along with a couple of exclusive photos from the recent sessions with Roger Waters in New York.

Whilst the Amazonas Opera Festival is now an established part of the international opera calendar, we wondered what was the starting point for bringing Ça Ira to Brazil. Lika: "I was the one who had the idea of bringing Ça Ira to Brazil because I am a great admirer of Roger Waters. I was at both concerts he put on here (the In The Flesh and Dark Side of The Moon tours) and I have run a Production Company for many years. I am a journalist, producer and video director, so I am always looking for things to produce...

"I thought it would be great to have Ça Ira there not only because Teatro Amazonas is a very beautiful venue but also because they put on traditional and contemporary operas in this Festival.

"Everybody liked the idea: the management at Manaus and Roger Waters too. He is very enthusiastic about it and he is being extremely kind and cooperative with us. We met him and Rick Wentworth last month in New York to arrange things, and discuss technical details.

"He is coming next week to Manaus for some rehearsals and he will be here at the opening on April 15th. I think that Rick will be here in April as well. He too is a very special person, and very important for the opera and is also helping us as far as music is concerned."

In the first of the two exclusive pictures to the right [click the thumbnails] you see Brazilian conductor Luiz Fernando Malheiro (left), Roger (centre), and Rick Wentworth (right). The second picture shows Roger with executive producer Lika Geribello. Our thanks to Lika for her time, and we wish the project every success. We should have more information soon on this event, in the run up to the shows themselves.

You can access our special pages for these shows here, and more information on the festival and ticket sales, can be found at www.manausonline.com.