Reviews
Review highlights appear on this page.
General comments
A company truly serious about comedy Opera Today, 2012
… a welcome absence of formality of dress or show-off picnics and the beauty of the Deanery garden, sends it right to the top of my list of, well, ‘country-garden’ opera. Opera, September 2012
…actorly panache and charm… The Oxford Times, 2012
As always with Bampton Classical Opera, an absolute treat The Oxford Times, 2011
...courageous repertoire meticulously researched and selected Opera Today 2010
Bampton rose to the heights of its own elevated standards Opera 2010
...the uniformly excellent cast that Bampton Opera is so adept at gathering together The Oxford Times, July 2010
Once again, a performance by Bampton Classical Opera left this listener amazed that such works are not more frequently performed Opera Today, 2009
A serious business with remarkable artistic standards Opera, 2009
Bampton Classical Opera has an admirable history of devising challenging educational projects Opera Today, 2009
Bampton Classical Opera offers operas that one wants to hear Opera, 2008
Thank heaven for little opera companies' The Independent, 2007
Bampton's inventive daring grows ever more finessed… scintillating… terrific Opera, 2006
Invariably slick, always cleverly imaginative… terrific value for money Opera Now, 2006
...the magnetism of Bampton Classical Opera... The Oxford Times, 2006
Bampton Classical Opera's stagings of comic opera are endless fun; yet Jeremy Gray's and Gilly French's sparkling ensemble has proved it has a nobler mission. Its snappy productions juxtapose the cheeky, the ingenious and the bizarre with a genuine serious concern to make the music tell, engaging gifted young singers and capable orchestral players. Opera, 2005
every idea, move and entry seemed polished, finished, thought through; relevant, deuced clever ….. everything gelled admirably. Opera, 2005
The company has its own style - quirky, witty, zestful – which endows late 18th century opera with rapid momentum, showing a constant empathy with its subject. Bampton invariably scores with musical verve and quick-fire delivery. Opera Now, 2005
Bampton’s calling-card has been founder Jeremy Gray’s spacey, faux-naïve stagings The Times, 2004
Bampton Classical Opera’s imaginative producer-translators have a knack of advancing prodigious young talent Opera, 2004
The epitome of opera-in-a-garden The Times, 2002 and 2003
There isn’t a company in England with as sharp a sense of fun as Bampton. Season after season they dig up rare gems, served up with canny wit, visual deftness and a musical spring that make them one of the high pleasures of an English summer Opera Now, November 2003
There's always something good to say about Bampton Music and Vision, 2003
This admirable outfit, brainchild of two Westminster schoolteachers, has for 11 years been unearthing and performing lost and forgotten works The Times, 2003
the excellent Bampton Opera The Evening Standard, 2003
Bampton Classical Opera … has amassed all the ingredients for an ideal medium-range opera company: it has verve and initiative, seriousness and fun… it has its own talented ensemble of singers. But what impresses most is Bampton’s unswerving commitment to staging rare operatic gems of the Classical era. Opera Now, 2002
An intelligent, quirky sense of humour, an eye for detail and directorial tautness have informed all Gray’s recent stagings. Opera, 2002
Jeremy Gray, the moving spirit of Bampton Classical Opera … has the unmistakeable joie-de-vivre of what may, I fear, be becoming an ever-rarer English type – a man simply doing his own thing. The Oxford Times, 2002
Rare 18th century fare is a Bampton speciality, and for this reason alone it deserves recognition Opera, 1999
Philidor Blaise le savetier and Grétry L’Amant jaloux, 2012
Musical standards were first-class Opera
A perennial credit to Bampton’s casting The Oxford Times
Jeremy Gray’s direction was adroit, inventive but never fussy Opera Today
Cimarosa - The Italian Girl in London, 2011
...stylish and amusing The Daily Telegraph
A thoroughly agreeable evening – what more could one ask? Opera
...beautifully paced and elegant... impressive cast Opera Now
...delightfully funny... strongly sung... spirited style The Oxford Times
Arne – The Judgment of Paris, 2011
...commitment, intelligence and significant musical accomplishment Opera Today
Portugal – The Marriage of Figaro, 2010
...spontaneity and freshness... Opera Today
...a gorgeous production... Bampton rose to the heights of its own elevated standards... the nocturnal shenanigans in the garden for once made perfect sense Opera
...witty new translation... uniformly excellent The Oxford Times
...a work among the most interesting and attractive Bampton have discovered Opera Now
Haydn – Le pescatrici, 2009
brilliant, racy... We all had a whale of a time Opera
a radiant whole Opera Today
plenty of laughs...strongly cast... impeccable timing and control The Oxford Times
Schubert – The Conspirators, 2009
...warmth, personality and camaderie... a joy Opera
a delightfully entertaining, remarkably confident and outstandingly assured performance of this unjustly neglected opera... shrewdly cast... tenor Tom Raskin and baritone Edmund Connolly supported and encouraged the young performers sensitively throughout... a new English translation, brisk and uncluttered, struck an effective balance between detail and dramatic momentum... the deft visual and verbal wit which has come to characterise Bampton Classical Opera’s unfussy, sharp approach... Opera Today
Paer – Leonora, 2008
Promising young singers appear in its casts... A fascinating evening, honestly, decently and ambitiously performed Opera
A high quality cast Opera Now
This imaginative, focused production... Intelligent, well-paced... Opera Today
Gluck and Mozart – Le Cinesi and Apollo and Hyacinth, 2008 and 2009
Genuine enjoyment and engagement Opera Today
just right... excellent Opera Now
...a triumph The Oxford Times
Benda - Romeo and Juliet, 2007
superb... The Independent
evident relish... The Oxford Times
brilliantly engaging... Music and Vision
a real gem Musical Pointers
Handel/Mozart – Acis and Galatea, 2007
wit and sparkle… a delightful evening Musical Pointers
well performed The Spectator
Mozart – Apollo and Hyacinth, 2007
… a delightful, spirited evening Opera
Mozart – The Jewel Box, 2006
a real treasure trove: a delicious concoction… Jewels indeed Opera
Martín y Soler - La capricciosa corretta, 2006
rewarding TLS
invariably slick, always cleverly imaginative… terrific value for money Opera Now
another triumph... slick staging... style and panache... vocally strong throughout The Oxford Times
Paisiello – The Barber of Seville, 2005
Jeremy Gray’s fast-moving, zestful and colourful production …the action all looked deliciously unlikely, and fuelled many comic mishaps Opera News
Gilly French’s cleverly inventive rhymed translation [was] witty, lucid, always audible and a boon to all the singers… Gray displays a wonderful eye for paradox, sending things up much as Paisiello’s score does, which both typifies and impishly parodies the Italian style Opera
madcap comedy done with the usual ensemble pizzazz that this company musters The Times
great eloquence and joy The Oxford Times
combines fun and sentiment to perfection Manchester Evening News
Haydn - La vera costanza, 2004
superb in all departments Opera
melting moments that are the best of Haydn The Times
the world, you soon felt, seemed not a bad place after all The Oxford Times
a cast of bold dramatic range and beguiling musical gifts Opera News
Haydn - L'infedeltà delusa, 2004 and 2005
this sparklingly witty evening's entertainment… one of the many strong points was their complete conviction in the quality of the work. Jeremy Gray's direction was mercifully unpretentious, allowing the farce to play for what it is MusicOMH.com
musical verve and quick-fire delivery Opera Now
Salieri Falstaff, 2003 and 2004
Gray's Bampton productions pry humour from his texts with a consistency and precision that lift them way above the lightweight shenanigans of "garden" opera. Opera News
full of relevant laughs, with Gilly French's slick translations... a joy ...pure magic The Independent
painlessly updated The Times
the lyric singing is uniformly excellent... the true running joke lies in the English translation, by Jeremy Gray and Gilly French, which, with its clinking rhymes and robust English idioms...surpasses even the usual standard The Oxford Times
a gem of an evening… Gilly French's aria translations rivalled the best Amanda Holden quality Opera Now
Thirty-one scenes of sheer joy... Opera
Cimarosa - The Two Barons of Rocca Azzurra, 2002
a terrific cast… a laugh a minute The Independent
Bampton’s latest discovery … is performed with their usual carefree ensemble, a product of regular singers who work well together and a relaxed atmosphere. The Times
The work was imaginatively cast. In whatever range, voices matched and balanced, ensuring lustre in the frequent ensembles. The Oxford Times
Mozart - Waiting for Figaro, 2002
an inspired evening... a fresh revelation of genius… everyone excelled The Independent
clarity, intimacy and – a rarer achievement – a communicative warmth that embraces the listener. The Oxford Times
Mozart, Henneberg, Schack, Gerl & Schikaneder - The Philosopher’s Stone, 2001
Jeremy Gray … has built up both a composite team and his own intelligent directorial style, informed by a wry sense of humour The Independent
Storace - The Comedy of Errors, 2000
Gray shrewdly contrived exactly the kind of visual variety and zip Shakespeare’s original demands The Independent
Lively and slick The Times
Bampton Classical Opera's production put scarcely a foot wrong. Nifty comedy, colourful settings, beautifully contrived send-up, imaginative moves, a real sense of directorial pacing, clear words (in Arthur Jacobs's immensely successful translation) and a clutch of promising voices made this an evening to be savoured. Opera
Paisiello - Nina, 1999
Jeremy Gray’s tidy and compact production, imaginatively updated to a 1930’s hospital setting, worked well thanks to intelligent consistency in sets, props and costumes and a well-marshalled chorus impressively free of overacting Opera
Jeremy Gray's carefully considered staging... taut and focused... well-directed Opera Now