THIRTY YEARS OF BAMPTON CLASSICAL OPERA

The new decade saw energetic experimentation and discovery, with steadily improving standards and expansion to other venues and festivals. Our friend Mary Henderson, who had sung in our Acis and Galatea chorus, was headmistress of Westonbirt School, near Tetbury in Gloucestershire, and she invited us to perform there in 2000. Westonbirt is a magnificently impressive Victorian mansion of 1864-74, built in a Jacobean style for George Holford, whose vast wealth came from shares in the London water company. Around it stretch 28 acres of terraced and landscaped gardens, whilst outside its gates is the famous Arboretum which was originally part of the estate. The exterior terrace of the Orangery (the massive room used as school hall and theatre) provided a perfect setting for open-air opera, facing the gardens with the ornate house behind.