“We used to call ourselves Bampton Summer Opera… But then we thought we might be had up under the Trade Descriptions Act,” joked Jeremy Gray, welcoming the large audience gathered in St Mary’s Church. Bampton’s opera performances are ordinarily given in the natural open air stage of their beautiful Deanery Garden next door, but when English summer weather drives us under cover, it’s a relief to find the back-up venue warm, comfortable and generally dry (even though the bar corner needed emergency indoor tenting, thieves having recently stripped the lead from the church roof).
Salieri La scuola de' gelosi; Matthew Sprange, Kate Howden, Samuel Pantcheff, Nathalie Chalkley Rhiannon Llewellyn, Alessandro Fisher, Thomas Herford, dir: Jeremy Gray, cond: Anthony Kraus; Bampton Classical Opera at St John's Smith Square Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Sep 12 2017 Star rating: 3.5 Popular in its day, Salieri's comedy might stretch the charm somewhat but it provides important background for Mozart's mature comedies
Gemma Morsley’s waspy yet vulnerable Marcellina is an absolute delight, getting right to the heart of the role with her finely-honed mezzo (not to mention some fabulous dancing, handbag clutched and ready).