THIRTY YEARS OF BAMPTON CLASSICAL OPERA

grounds, and eventually revealing the amazing ‘tribuna’ (entrance hall) by the maverick architect Sir John Soane (1753 - 1837), which had been obscured in an interim restoration.

David is a retired diplomat, formerly High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and later responsible for establishing the first British Embassy in Ukraine. Erudite and civilised, he and April fostered their delightful concert series over many years in the grand salon at Wotton, selecting artists of calibre as well as nurturing emerging musicians: it was the Wigmore Hall of Buckinghamshire. Black tie evenings opened with welcome drinks before the concert, and a handsome dinner afterwards.

Presenting opera at Wotton was no easy task as the elegant space was severely restricted, especially as audiences for our operas tended to be at the maximum. Although L’infedeltà delusa was first presented there with only piano accompaniment, our later productions were with small instrumental ensembles, usually of and they were always well received. The post-performance dinners were an opportunity to network, and extraordinary and beautiful Arts and Craft house by Edwin Lutyens near Stockbridge in Hampshire. Here the owners, John and Camilla Hunt, asked us to give a similar small opera performance in their handsome panelled ball-room at an annual summer house-party: Arne’s Judgment of Paris in 2010 was followed by other one-act works in our repertoire by Handel, Philidor and Gluck. period instruments, who had to be arranged around the margins of the tiny stage. We went on to give six further operas, all rarities by Handel, Arne, Haydn and Mozart, we made some valuable contacts amongst the discerning audiences. One of these was to lead to a further sequence of country-house performances at Marsh Court, an

A rather different enterprise developed with education performances at Queen’s College, the girls’ independent school in London’s Harley Street where I taught history of art. Gilly was adamant that she did not want a project which was condescending to young singers, but rather a substantial effort which would enable the teenagers to develop their voices and confidence. We began in spring 2002 with a selection of scenes from The Marriage of Figaro, and later that year some of the girls augmented