THIRTY YEARS OF BAMPTON CLASSICAL OPERA

of the 1st Duke of Chandos, was our repertory choice – one of the most affecting and consistently performed of all English ‘operas’.

As with many of life’s better inventions, Bampton Summer Opera came about in response to a wifely nudge. Gilly French (a full-time chemistry teacher) had modest ambitions as an operatic soprano, but somehow the casting call from Covent Garden never arrived… She longed to sing Handel’s Galatea, but we realised we would have to put it on ourselves. We had recently enjoyed an open-air concert in a lovely Gloucestershire garden, which encouraged us to think along similar lines. We were aware of the grander opera at Garsington Manor, the other side of the county, but that was already established as a larger affair, with a smart dresscode which we were disinclined to emulate.

I had recently joined the committee of West Oxfordshire Arts Association which at that time hoped to become more broadly based than its remit of the visual arts: an al fresco music event was readily seized upon as an event which might delight both the local community and attract others from outside.

Trevor Milne-Day was Chairman and helped steer the project through months of planning, committee discussion and at times disagreement.

Gilly and I were confident we could gather musicians to sing and play, but there were a host of other problems and issues to be solved. A suitable venue, publicity, tickets, lights, music stands, scenery and costumes? And – the biggest question, of course – how would costs be covered?

Several in Bampton, especially members of the active Drama Group, offered advice, expertise and contacts. Whilst considering several venues, the lovely Deanery garden easily won - and being adjacent to the capacious medieval St Mary’s Church, we would have a wet-weather venue if required. The Deanery owners, George and Deirdre Dudley, were quick to agree, and there seemed to be a precedent of opera having being held there under a previous owner in the 1960s. We tried out the acoustics on the spacious lawn which indicated that we should perform facing the house, with the splendid curved yew hedge behind, forming an embracing backdrop. We didn’t consider building a stage, reckoning that the beauty of the garden and its appropriateness to the ‘pastoral’ myth of Acis and Galatea required no scenery other than a few focal props. One of these was an old shop mannequin that I transformed