A bright Alpine vision of fresh air, blue skies and snowy mountains: Bampton Classical Opera’s production of Gluck’s Il Parnaso Confuso, designed and directed by Jeremy Gray, moves Mount Parnassus closer to Austria than Greece, with the Muses in dirndls, Apollo in lederhosen, and an alphorn on stage.

Bertoni’s Orfeo, setting the same libretto Calzabigi wrote for Gluck’s version of the story, is a piece with much more plot, direction, and dramatic energy, and in this second half of the evening Anna Starushkevych’s Orfeo reigned supreme.

Altogether, Bampton Classical Opera gave us an evening full of lovely sounds within a fresh, bright visualisation of these two rare pieces, featuring some strong performances from a cast of talented young singers: if only we could have had the words too, we could have had it all.

Click here to read my full review on Bachtrack.