THIRTY YEARS OF BAMPTON CLASSICAL OPERA

into a pseudo-classical statue with papier-mâché: we christened her ‘Barbie’, and she went on to ‘perform’ in several of our early operas and even qualified for a biography in the 1997 programme booklet – “she is noted for her geological flexibility”. Elegant period costumes for the soloists were hired at some expense, with the non-acting chorus simply lined up in black.

Gilly and I set about finding singers. We selected a London friend, bass Peter Johnson, as the raging Cyclops Polyphemus, and tracked down two young tenors for the lyrical shepherd roles of Acis and Damon – John Virgoe and Howard Branch. A chorus of 13 were mostly friends and amateur singers, and we gave walk-on parts to Amy Mills and Christopher Allinson, children of Bampton friends. For the small orchestra, our friend Felicity Cormack, whose multi-tasking talents continue to be put to use to this day, contacted a recently- formed Thames Valley ensemble, the Camerata of St George, who were players on ‘period’ rather than modern instruments. The invitation letter to players cheerfully stated that “We can offer travelling expenses, overnight accommodation and evening meals but unfortunately no fee will be available” – although, in the end, musicians were paid £50 each. Philip Needham was stage director and David Murphy was conductor. Jonathan Katz played harpsichord, which we hired from Gobles in Oxford, a somewhat risky undertaking given that there was no protection from the sun. naturally concerned about costs, but Trevor led a successful fundraising drive including a £500 grant from the Joyce Grenfell Memorial Trust, a wonderful small charitable trust which has remained loyal to us ever since.

The date was fixed for a single performance in the Deanery garden on Saturday 17 July. WOAA was

Trevor persuaded several local businesses to donate to our cause –Abbey Properties, Burford Garden