A mad day

At BAMPTON CLASSICAL OPERA we're now deep into rehearsals for The Marriage of Figaro – but not as you know it! Is there anyone who can claim to have seen or heard a Figaro other than the famous Mozart/Da Ponte version? And whilst nothing can improve on that – one of the greatest cultural achievements of the 18th century – it is fascinating to encounter all the familiar characters (Susanna, Cherubino, the Count and Countess, Cherubino, Antonio….) but with different music and slant. Bampton Classical Opera ventures where others fear to tread and, following our hilarious 2005 production of Paisiello’s Barber of Seville, now turns to even rarer fare. The remarkable career of the Portuguese composer Marcos Portugal (1762-1830) took him from Lisbon to Italy and eventually to Brazil, fêted wherever he went. Composed eight years after Mozart’s death, his Figaro may be considered a rashly presumptuous choice for a composer, but is a fitting and most attractive setting of the original Beaumarchais play. There is something deeply satisfying, as we are discovering in rehearsals, in performing music which no-one has heard for two centuries - so don’t miss your chance to experience this ‘new’ and very lively classic opera in our UK and modern times première of La pazza giornata (The Mad Day) ovvero Il matrimonio di Figaro.