A TOP Yorkshire poet stopped by City Park to promote a new opera that will be performed at Bradford Festival.

Ian McMillan and the cast of Ice Cream: The Opera, gave people a sneak peek of the production, making its world premier at the festival on Sunday July 30.

The opera will use City Park to tell the story of warring ice cream vendor families from Yorkshire who come together through song, ice cream and love, and it is being performed through two ice cream vans.

The production is a partnership between Skipton Building Society Camerata and Freedom Studios in association with Spin Arts.

Inspired by Romeo and Juliet, the opera was written by the Barnsley poet and tells the story of Romano and Geetha who have fallen in love. Their families own rival ice cream companies in the city and have been engaged in a turf war for generations.

It is a contemporary chamber opera for four singers and the music will be performed live, mixing Indian music and Yorkshire wit.

Mr McMillan said: “I’m very excited that the Ice Cream Opera I wrote the words for is going to be produced in Bradford; I think that opera is the perfect form for our angry and excitable times, and this one can't be licked. It's so hot it'll melt your heart.”

It will be directed by Tom Wright (The Container, Young Vic and Brief Encounters at Bradford Interchange, Freedom Studios) and composed by Russell Sarre, whose work has been performed around the globe.

The production’s cast will feature Mezzo Soprano Hannah Mason (Turandot, Opera North), Baritone Spiro Fernando, Tenor Joseph Doody and Soprano Tara Mansfield.

The opera will be performed at 1pm, 3pm and 5.15pm on the Sunday.