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{{Short description|Opera company based in Bampton, Oxfordshire, UK}}
[[Image:Westonbirt exterior.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Westonbirt House, one of Bampton Classical Opera's main performing venues]]
'''Bampton Classical Opera''' is an [[opera]] company based in [[Bampton, Oxfordshire|Bampton]], [[Oxfordshire]] and founded in 1993. It specialises in the production of lesser known opera from the [[Classical period (music)|Classical period]]. Performances are always sung in English. ''Opera today'' called the company 'ambitious, innovative and imaginative'.<ref>{{cite web |title=Music fit for an Emperor |url=https://operatoday.com/2021/05/music-fit-for-an-emperor-bampton-classical-opera-at-st-johns-smith-square/ |publisher=Opera Today}}</ref>

It works with a variety of conductors and ensembles and does not have a permanent music director. It performs with both modern and period instrument orchestras and has often appeared with the [[London Mozart Players]] and Chroma Ensemble. It particularly aims to provide performances for young singers.

==History==
Bampton Classical Opera was founded in 1993 by its current artistic directors, Gilly French and Jeremy Gray. Following a staging of Mozart’s rare unfinished opera ''[[L'oca del Cairo|L’oca del Cairo]] (The Cairo Goose)'' in 1994, the company specialised increasingly in rare works of the classical period, usually from the second half of the eighteenth-century.

==Venues==
The company's staged opera productions are performed in a garden setting in Bampton and at [[Westonbirt House]], the premises of [[Westonbirt School]], as well as at [[St John's, Smith Square]], London.

From time to time it tours to other UK venues and festivals, which have included the [[Wigmore Hall]] and the [[Purcell Room]] in London, the [[Buxton Festival]], the [[Cheltenham Music Festival]] and others. In addition, occasional concerts are performed including an annual one in [[St Mary’s Church, Bampton]] usually on 21 December, with other concerts in Oxford and London.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

==2022 Production==
[[Image:Marcos Portugal's Marriage of Figaro, Bampton 2010.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.3|John-Colyn Gyeantey (the Count) and Emily Rowley Jones (Susanna) in the UK première of Marcos Portugal's ''Marriage of Figaro'', Bampton 2010]]

In summer 2022, the company will perform "Fool Moon", a new English translation of [[Il mondo della luna]] by [[Haydn]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bamptonopera.org/eventfuturedetail.htm?event=619 |title=Fool Moon |access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref>

==Other productions from 2000==
In 2021 The company gave a concert performance of [[La corona (Gluck)|''The Crown'']] by [[Christoph Willibald Gluck|C W Gluck]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Crown |url=https://bamptonopera.org/eventfuturedetail.htm?event=603 |date=May 2021 |accessdate=21 September 2020}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Berry |first1=Mark |title=Bampton Classical Opera's performance of Gluck's La corona is a joy from beginning to end |journal=Seen and Heard International |date=20 May 2021 |url=https://seenandheard-international.com/2021/05/bampton-classical-operas-performance-of-glucks-la-corona-is-a-joy-from-beginning-to-end/ |access-date=6 July 2022}}</ref>
In summer 2021 the company performed ''[[Paride ed Elena|Paris and Helen]]'' by Gluck,<ref>Salazar, David (16 March 2020). [https://operawire.com/bampton-classical-opera-unveils-cast-for-upcoming-gluck-production/ Bampton Classical Opera Unveils Cast for Upcoming Gluck Production, ''OperaWire''. Retrieved 22 April 2020.]</ref> the 2020 performances having been postponed. [[Image:Arne Paris Bampton.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.1|Catherine Backhouse (Pallas Athena), Aoife O'Sullivan (Venus), Barbara Cole Walton (Juno) in the 2016 production of Thomas Arne's ''Judgement of Paris'']]

In 2000 Bampton Classical Opera performed [[Stephen Storace]]’s [[Gli equivoci|The Comedy of Errors]], with libretto by [[Lorenzo da Ponte]]. In 2001, it performed the [[United Kingdom]] staged première of ''The Philosopher's Stone'' (''[[Der Stein der Weisen]]''), a [[singspiel]] by [[Emanuel Schikaneder]] composed in collaboration with [[Mozart]], [[Johann Baptist Henneberg|Henneberg]], [[Benedikt Schack|Schack]], and [[Franz Xaver Gerl|Gerl]].

==Productions before 2000==
In 2003, it gave the first UK performance of [[Antonio Salieri|Salieri]]'s ''[[Falstaff (Salieri)|Falstaff]]'', and in July 2007 staged the UK première of [[Georg Benda]]'s ''[[Romeo und Julie|Romeo and Juliet]]''. In 2008 it presented the UK première of ''[[Leonora (opera)|Leonora]]'' by [[Ferdinando Paer]], based on the same story as ''[[Fidelio]]'', and in 2009 ''[[Le pescatrici|Le Pescatrici]]'' (''The Fisherwomen'') by [[Haydn]]. In 2010, it presented [[Marcos Portugal]]'s ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (1799), the first performances anywhere since its première in Venice in 1800, and [[Alfred (Arne opera)|''The Masque of King Alfred'']] and [[The Judgement of Paris (opera)|''The Judgement of Paris'']] by [[Thomas Arne]]. In 2011, it presented the UK concert première of ''[[Il Parnaso confuso|Il parnaso confuso (Parnassus in Turmoil)]]'' by [[Gluck]]; ''[[The Italian Girl in London]]'' (''L'italiana in Londra'') by [[Domenico Cimarosa|Cimarosa]], first performed in 1778; and [[The Choice of Hercules (Handel)|''The Choice of Hercules'']] by [[Handel]]. In 2012, it presented productions of ''[[L'amant jaloux]] (The Jealous Lover)'' by [[André Grétry]] (1778) and ''[[Blaise le savetier]] (Blaise the Cobbler)'' (1759) by [[François-André Danican Philidor]]. In 2013, it presented a new production of Mozart’s first comic opera, ''[[La finta semplice]]'' (1769), in a new English translation entitled ''Pride and Pretence''. In 2014, it revisited ''[[La finta semplice]]'' and Gluck's ''Il parnaso confuso'', as well as presenting ''Orfeo'' by [[Ferdinando Bertoni]], a modern times UK première. In 2015, Bampton Classical Opera performed Salieri's ''[[La grotta di Trofonio|Trofonio's Cave]]''. In 2016, it staged a double bill called the ''Divine Comedies'' featuring Arne's ''[[The Judgement of Paris (opera)|The Judgement of Paris]]'' and, a UK première, Gluck's ''Philemon and Baucis'' - an English translation of part two of ''[[Le feste d'Apollo]]''. In 2017, it presented the UK modern times première of ''[[La scuola de' gelosi|The School of Jealousy]]'' by Salieri.<ref>Holloway, Amanda (13 September 2017). [https://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/salieris-the-school-of-jealousy-review-at-st-johns-smith-square--a-sprightly-performance "Review: ''The School of Jealousy''"]. ''[[The Stage]]''. Retrieved 22 April 2020.</ref> In 2018, it presented another UK première, Isouard's ''[[Cendrillon (Isouard)|Cinderella]]''. In 2019, it performed ''[[Gli sposi malcontenti|Bride and Gloom (Gli sposi malcontenti)]]'' by Stephen Storace in an English translation by [[Brian Trowell]].<ref>[https://www.bamptonopera.org/archive.htm Bampton Classical Opera, Past Productions]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.operatoday.com/content/2019/09/bampton_classic.php|last= Seymour| first= Claire| title= Review - Bampton Classical Opera: Bride & Gloom at St John's Smith Square|publisher= Opera Today| date= 18 September 2019| accessdate= 3 May 2020}}</ref> This was the second ever UK production, and it has led to Bampton Classical Opera being selected as a Finalist in the Rediscovered Work category of the [[International Opera Awards]] 2020.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.operaawards.org/archive/2020/ |title=International Opera Awards 2020 Nominees|date=5 February 2020|accessdate=23 April 2020}}</ref>
[[Image:Stephen Storace's Gli sposi malcontenti, 2019 performance (as 'Bride & Gloom') by Bampton Classical Opera.png|thumb|upright=1.3|Stephen Storace's ''Gli sposi malcontenti'', 2019 performance (as ''Bride & Gloom'')]]

==Performers==
Many musicians of national and international significance have performed with Bampton early in their careers. These include conductors Thomas Blunt, [[Alexander Briger]], [[Christian Curnyn]], [[Edward Gardner (conductor)|Edward Gardner]], Robin Newton and [[Julian Perkins]], directors Harry Fehr, [[Thomas Guthrie (director)|Thomas Guthrie]] and Alessandro Talevi, and singers Rebecca Bottone, Ilona Domnich, Alessandro Fisher, Maire Flavin, Martene Grimson, Benjamin Hulett, [[Gillian Keith]], [[Andrew Kennedy (tenor)|Andrew Kennedy]], [[Christopher Lowrey]], Gavan Ring, Kim Sheehan, Christopher Turner, Mark Wilde and many others.

==Young Singers' Competition==
To celebrate its 20th anniversary and to give further support to the development of young singers, it launched a biennial Young Singers’ Competition in 2013, with the public final in Oxford’s [[Holywell Music Room]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Young Singers' Competition |url=https://www.bamptonopera.org/singerscompetition.htm |accessdate=23 April 2020}}</ref> [[file:Holywell_Music_Room_YSC.jpg |right|thumb|upright=1.1|A singer and her accompanist competing in the final round of Bampton Classical Opera's Young Singers' Competition in December 2021 in the [[Holywell Music Room]]]] First prize winners have been Ukrainian mezzo-soprano Anna Starushkevych (2013), Russian soprano Galina Averina (2015), British mezzo-soprano Emma Stannard (2017) and British soprano Lucy Anderson (2019) and Australian soprano Cassandra Wright (2021). Accompanists’ prizes have been awarded to Keval Shah, Dylan Perez and Ilan Kurtser.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://operatoday.com/2021/12/bampton-classical-opera-2021-young-singers-competition-winner-announced/ |title=Bampton Classical Opera 2021 Young Singers' Competition – winner announced|date=December 2021|publisher=Opera Today |accessdate = 5 January 2022}}</ref>

==Patrons==

The company's patrons are [[Bonaventura Bottone]], [[Brian Kay]], Sir [[Roger Norrington]], [[Andrew Parrott]], Sir [[David Pountney]], Sir [[Curtis Price]] and [[Jean Rigby]].<ref>[https://www.bamptonopera.org/index.htm Patrons Bampton Classical Opera]</ref> Dame [[Felicity Lott]], the late Sir [[Charles Mackerras]] and the late Sir [[Philip Ledger]] were also patrons, as was the Rt Hon [[David Cameron]], in whose former [[Witney (UK Parliament constituency)|Witney]] constituency Bampton lies.

==References==
{{reflist}}

*Jones, Roger, Review of Thomas Arne's ''Masque of King Alfred'' and ''The Judgment of Paris'', [http://www.musicweb-international.com/sandh/2010/Jul-Dec10/arne0711.htm ''MusicWeb International''] 7 November 2010 (accessed 29 January 2011)
*Church, Michael, Review of Benda's ''Romeo and Juliet'' at Bampton Classical Opera, [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/romeo-and-juliet-bampton-classical-opera-bampton-464482.html ''The Independent''] 20 September 2007 (accessed 22 April 2020)
*Tanner, Michael, Review of ''Acis and Galatea'', [https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/laughter-unbecoming ''Spectator''] 24 May 2007 (accessed 22 April 2020)
*Porter, Andrew, Review of [[Vicente Martín y Soler|Martín y Soler]]'s ''La scuola dei maritati'' at Bampton Classical Opera, [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/incomingFeeds/article617035.ece ''The Times'']{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} 18 August 2006 (accessed 22 June 2007)
*Thicknesse, Robert, Review of [[Giovanni Paisiello|Paisiello]]'s ''The Barber of Seville'' at Bampton Classical Opera, [https://web.archive.org/web/20110517042010/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/article546151.ece ''The Times''] 21 July 2005 (accessed 22 June 2007)
*Thicknesse, Robert, Review of French double bill, Bampton Opera, [http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/leisure/music_and_books/music/9838988.French_double_bill__Bampton_Opera__The_Deanery_Gardens__Bampton ''Oxford Times''] 26 July 2012 (accessed 23 August 2012)
*Coghlan, Alexandra, Salieri's Revenge [https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/salieri-s-revenge ''Spectator''] 25 July 2015 (accessed 17 April 2020)

==External links==
*[http://www.bamptonopera.org Bampton Classical Opera website]
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[[Category:British opera companies]]
[[Category:Opera in London]]
[[Category:Opera festivals in England]]
[[Category:Music festivals in Oxfordshire]]
[[Category:Musical groups established in 1993]]
[[Category:1993 establishments in England]]

Bampton Classical Opera - Revision history

imported>Jim Dixon 55104: Added short description