Which moves to the north of the uk, and these trailing weather fronts are likely to bring some wet and windy weather to parts of scotland in particular, also Northern Ireland. As those fronts drift across england and wales, the wind will turn quite light and patchy and showery in nature. So i think much of southern england towards east anglia probably staying dry, but some showers and blustery conditions further north. Temperatures somewhere between 15 to 20 degrees on monday. And then, as we look a little further ahead into the new working week, you can see the orange colours returning to the map and these south westerly winds. That is some warmer air that is going to be wafting in for a time, particularly holding on in the south into the middle part of the week. So we are likely to see those temperatures, at least in the south, into the low to mid 20s. And then things turn more widely unsettled and autumnal towards the end of the week. Bye bye. Hello, this is bbc news. The headlines. A leading epidemiologist has warned the country is at a critical moment in the coronavirus pandemic, with many students preparing to travel to universities. Several more areas of england including leeds and middlesbrough have been added to the governments watchlist of places with high rates of coronavirus. Theyll be closely monitored and restrictions may be re imposed. Government departments in england are told to get Civil Servants back into offices as quickly as possible following the coronavirus lockdown but one union has described the governments attitude as outdated. France has registered its highest daily infection rate of covid i9 since the pandemic began. The latest figures, in the 2a hours from thursday to friday, show almost 9,000 new coronavirus cases. Extinction rebellion activists have delayed the distribution of several National Newspapers after blocking access to three Printing Presses owned by rupert murdoch. Now a behind the scenes look at the preparations in italy as some of the biggest names in opera gather for a glittering night under the stars at the verona arena. 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. Im going behind the scenes to find out what the future holds for live opera. Music is something that goes directly to the soul. Its not important, you know, the quality now, we start to think about the quality later, maybe in a few months, but now, lets do music. And will audiences return . Im 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, its a real treat to visit the roman amphitheatre in verona in northern italy which since 1913, has hosted a summer opera festival. But its with some trepidation that i come here, because like many, im wondering how live opera performances are going to survive the coronavirus crisis. The arenas 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 years 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. Shes performed at the arena and appreciates its marvellous acoustics. The opening concert is dedicated to italys health workers. About 25 of the countrys 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 dont 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 dannunzui 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 italys strict quarantine period. Alex lost a friend to covid 19 and believes he suffered himself. I started with symptoms, fever, tiredness, and i lost the taste and the smell. So im quite sure that i had it, and i was alone. I wouldve 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 pandemics 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 didnt 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 . Its 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. Its 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, thats 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 its like to conduct an orchestra with new social distancing rules. Its difficult, its not the same as before. Because, of course, the more distance between the musicians, theres 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 its better to lack precision than stop the music. Music is something that goes directly to the soul, its not important, you know, the quality now. We will start to get into the quality maybe later, in a few months, but now, lets 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, theres an air of nervous expectancy. Its just over an hour before tonights 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. Its 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 couldnt. 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 its so great to see life again. I think its 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 isntjust an important event for the arena di verona. Its also very significant for the whole of the italian nation, because it represents a reawakening of the countrys 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 youre 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. Shes 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 canjust 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. He sings. Applause. Then the artistic director cecelia gasida joins in the finale a personal triumph for her. The arena di verona has not been silenced. 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. Nothing extreme about the weather this weekend. Sunshine and showers as well. That will continue today and tomorrow as well. Different areas getting those showers. Further north in derbyshire the cloud looks very threatening around lunchtime. Let me show you why. This is the satellite picture with lots of cloud streaming into Northern Ireland and scotland and lots of drizzly rain. Not heavy, but it has meant the sunshine has been diminished here. Some some gentle central scotland, south and east, despite the risk south west wind. The breeze continues and it is a north westerly so will push those showers, but there will be good spells of weather in between. It will be a chilly night, particularly for scotland. Down to single figures quite widely in southern and eastern areas close to the clearer skies. This High Pressure will nudge on as we go through tomorrow. As will diminish the shower activity across scotla nd diminish the shower activity across scotland and Northern Ireland. They will still be some showers. But it looks as though most will be tomorrow across england and wales. There will still be decent spells of dry weather. Quite a bit of cloud initially for england, the midlands and wales. Before the cloud breaks up and wales. Before the cloud breaks up and there could be some sharp showers around. But few showers around. In an Northern Ireland, later winds, temperatures higher. The winds will be lighter so will feel a little warmer. By the end of tomorrow into the start of the new week, we have got a weather front moving in and more rain. Interestingly, in the south, heading out on a rush hour, we could have some patchy fog to content with on some patchy fog to content with on some of the faster routes. It can catch out those early our rush hour commuters because of the lengthening nights. It is a drizzly and fog over the hills further north. That is because we have picked up that atla ntica because we have picked up that atlantica feel which gives a temporary rise in temperatures, but it does not last as it gets swept away. By the end of next week, there isa hint away. By the end of next week, there is a hint of something in little more turbulence coming in. But between now and then, nothing too extreme. Rain arriving towards the latter pa rt extreme. Rain arriving towards the latter part of the week. As ever, more on the website and we will keep 00 29 20,079 4294966103 13 29,430 you informed