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Details
Cokethorpe School
Standlake Road
Witney
Oxfordshire
OX29 7PU
England
Tickets
Prices: £45, under-18's £25
Booking line: 07968 801047
Book Tickets
Programme
André Ernest Modeste Grétry – Zemira e Azor
Performers
Ffion Edwards – soprano
Gwilym Bowen – tenor
Rachel Roper – mezzo-soprano
Siân Dicker – soprano
Andrew Irwin – tenor
Samuel Pantcheff – baritone
Andrew Griffiths – Conductor
Orchestra of Bampton Classical Opera
Bampton Classical Opera
Other concerts in this Series (+)
Programme Note
Bampton Classical Opera is delighted to announce their 2026 summer production will be André Grétry’s sparkling fairytale opera 'Zemira e Azor', to be performed in a rare version based on the 1776 Italian edition, with additional music by Ignaz Holzbauer and Niccolò Jommelli, not heard in the UK since the late 18th century. It will be sung in a new English translation by Gilly French as ‘Beauty and the Beast’, conducted by Andrew Griffiths and directed by Jeremy Gray. Bampton Classical Opera performed Grétry’s 'L’amant jaloux in 2012', also conducted by Andrew Griffiths.
The production will be semi-staged and costumed, with opening performances taking place for the first time in a delightful setting at Cokethorpe School, Witney, Oxfordshire. 'Zemira e Azor' is an enchanting version of the well-loved fairy-tale ‘Beauty and the Beast’. Originally set in a fantasised Persia, reflecting the Orientalism popular in the 18th century, it’s bursting with wit, romance and melodic charm. The original librettist Marmontel adapted the plot from La Belle et la Bête (‘Beauty and the Beast’) by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont and it also draws upon 'Amour pour amour' by Pierre-Claude Nivelle de La Chaussée.
A kind and beautiful young woman, Zemira, takes her father's place as a prisoner in the magical castle of the monstrous Azor, in beastly form as a result of a spell cast by a malevolent fairy. She is horrified when she first encounters Azor, but soon sees past his hideous exterior to his inner dignity and nobility, eventually falling in love. When she finally declares her feelings for him the fairy’s spell is broken and Azor is revealed in his true form as a handsome prince.
Bampton Classical Opera stages productions in rural venues in Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire as well as regularly in London at Smith Square Hall. Other significant venues and festivals have included Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room, Buxton Festival, Cheltenham Festival and Theatre Royal Bath. Eschewing familiar repertoire, Bampton concentrates instead on rarities from the late eighteenth century, sung in lively new English translations, and has given many enterprising performances of forgotten operas. Amongst these have been UK premières of Bertoni 'Orfeo', Marcos Portugal 'The Marriage of Figaro', Paer 'Leonora', Benda 'Romeo and Juliet', Gluck 'Il Parnaso confuso', 'Philemon and Baucis' and Salieri 'Falstaff' and 'La fiera di Venezia'. Bampton Classical Opera was a finalist in the Rediscovered Opera category of the 2020 International Opera Awards for Stephen Storace 'Gli sposi malcontenti' (Bride and Gloom), and its recent production of Salieri 'La fiera di Venezia' (At the Venice Fair) was shortlisted for the 2023 Awards.
