THIRTY YEARS OF BAMPTON CLASSICAL OPERA

Kate Elliott (also a delightful dancer in several of our early productions), Alan Allinson and John Smith. By now Pauline Smith, then helped by Pat Smith, was well established dealing with wardrobe – a total of 29 costumes for this production.

The best of these early productions (1999) was the ‘sentimental comedy’ Nina by Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816), the 73rd opera by this once hugely successful composer. Michelle Harris, a thrilling performer, returned in the title role. I set Nina in a 1930s sanatorium, as the title character is la pazza per amore – the girl driven mad by love. The orchestra involves Italian zampogna – small bagpipes – and finding a player proved a challenge. Eventually we tracked down a French bagpiper, but his bagpipes weren’t quite authentic and were alarmingly loud, and we could only achieve a satisfactory balance by making him perambulate the garden at great distance from the stage. We borrowed a magnificent, gleaming 1934 green Rolls-Royce which was parked in front of the stage, ‘owned’ by Nina’s uncaring father, the Count, a role suavely taken by Henry Herford. Other singers, already mainstays of our company, were Amanda Pitt and Justin Harmer.

By the time we reached the end of the century, we could enjoy a warm sense of achievement, even though artistic standards were not always entirely secure. Our constituency MP, Shaun Woodward, hosted a smart fundraising dinner at Sarsden House in 1999, and we began to work harder on cultivation of money and contacts. Most importantly the national press was showing interest. A few days after our Alfred performance, I was telephoned by the critic Roderick Dunnett, then writing inter alia for the Independent. He was effusive about what we were attempting to achieve, with plenty to praise but also sensible and very helpful criticism. Roddy remains a powerful advocate for our work, revelling in our repertory and our singers. Soon the Daily Telegraph booked a photo-session and Gilly and I had to wield a large scenery flat across the Deanery garden. The subsequent full-page picture article, by the critic Rupert Christiansen, was subtitled ‘the summer festivals that combine meticulous musical standards with truly idyllic surroundings’ and our photograph took precedence over a number of illustrious rivals. That we could feature alongside Garsington, Holland Park, Grange Park and Longborough provided us with heightened confidence, but we also realised that serious press coverage set the bar high for the future and that our standards were now critical.