Incredibly, Bampton Classical Opera is celebrating its 30th birthday. Jeremy Gray’s outrageous, quirky garden stagings have drawn universal admiration. His fun-packed treatments have tickled faithful audiences time and again, and yearly attract more. No surprise.
They sing in English. A hilarious aspect is the dotty translations concocted by co-producer Gilly French. Initially Bampton was a risky, daring economic venture. But with its established celebrity, supporters now often put their hands in their pockets, so the brilliant venture has earned not just financial, but moral, encouragement. Such success must be an uplift for this indefatigable husband-and-wife duo.
Of course each summer season (plus Haydn in London, and Sussex, in early September, with some of the same cast) Bampton has offered a fresh contribution to repertoire, making opera buffa their own. Bertoni…
