Pianist

Alcina’s Island is a 3-act dramma giocoso (comic opera), loosely based on the character of the sorceress Alcina from Ariosto’s epic poem Orlando furioso, which was also the source for Handel’s far more serious and literary Alcina.  The successful Venetian composer Gazzaniga wrote at least 50 operas, of which L’isola d’Alcina was one of the most widely performed - his most famous score was Don Giovanni, 1787, performed by Bampton in 1997 and 2004.

Alcina's Island

Deanery Garden

St. John's Smith Square

The Barn at Old Walland

Westonbirt School Orangery Theatre

In Lo speziale (The Apothecary), the librettist Goldoni demonstrates his belief that ‘comedy was created to correct vice and ridicule bad behaviour’.  Haydn exploits the satire with characteristic wit and colour, and feasts on the comic potential of the four entangled characters.  Sempronio, a work-shy apothecary, spends his time with the newspapers, attempting to sift reality from fake news, but is readily distracted by the charms of his pretty ward Grilletta.  But her fluttering eyes are cast on his shy assistant, Mengone, a youth with little understanding of chemistry who somehow concocts a powerful laxative, to be praised in one of Haydn’s jauntiest arias.  Meanwhile Grilletta is also wooed by the foppish Volpino, whose mastery of disguise leads to a finale of delightful silliness. 

The Apothecary

The Manor House

Bampton Classical Opera presents its annual St Beornwald concert, an eclectic programme of music based around two majestic works by Mozart and Poulenc for piano and wind, played by artistic director Jeremy Gray and the wind instruments of the Orchestra of Bampton Classical Opera.

Mozart’s beautiful quintet, for an unusual scoring, was considered by the composer at the time to be ‘the best thing I have written in my life’.  Poulenc’s trio, his first major chamber work, is noted for its depth of feeling, with touches of Mozartian flavour and echoes of other composers’ styles yet retaining its youthful verve.

Jeremy Gray

Pianist

Events

Upcoming events

Dec 7, 2024

A Musical Celebration ·

Past events

Jul 19 - Sep 13, 2024

Alcina's Island · Bampton Classical Opera

May 6, 2024

The Apothecary · Bampton Classical Opera

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