Garsington Manor offers something more than just a night out at the opera. Immediately upon walking up the tulip-lined drive towards the spectacular Jacobean manor house, steeped in history, it is obvious that this is no one-dimensional concert hall. The Manor, once lived in by Philip and Lady Ottoline Morrell and a haunt for their Bloomsbury companions, is now owned by chairman of Garsington Opera, Leonard Ingrams, who talks of his operatic venture, begun in 1989, with excitement. He attends every concert and opera staged at the Manor, and is proud of the world-class reputation that the shows have attained, both at home and abroad. “Culturally, opera is vitally important”, he tells me, a sentiment that accounts for the extensive links existing between Garsington Opera and local schools, as young talent is honed in a series of workshops that take place in the grounds every year.
As Mr Ingrams makes his way through the breathtaking gardens, warmly greeting guest after guest, the intimate and welcoming atmosphere at Garsington becomes clear. His presence at the concerts confirms the status of Garsington as a home, rather than as an anonymous opera house, and it is this sense of relaxation that allows the audience to really connect with the emotion inherent in the shows.
The operas are performed only metres away from the house, on a stage constructed beneath windows out of which it is likely that Virginia Woolf or T.S. Eliot once leaned to admire the beautiful Italian gardens that remain today. Guests look on from stalls erected amidst the trees, so viewing the stage from an elevated position that ensures freedom of movement as well as of thought, the smell of the surrounding fauna infusing with the operatic drama before them.
The opera season, beginning in June with Rossini's Le Comte Ory, is preceded by a series of performances in the Spring Concert Season, which opened on Mayday with the charismatic and world-renowned Endellion String Quartet , ‘Quartet in Residence' at Cambridge University since 1992 and seen regularly on the BBC. The lively foursome certainly did not disappoint. Their varied score, ranging from the rousing pomp of Haydn to the more melancholy tones of Schubert's Rosamunde served as the perfect complement to the close of the day, Schubert's piece being performed once again at the end of the evening as a means of “winding down”.
Taking place in the lofty setting of the Great Barn, the walls of which are panelled with wood transported to Garsington from the renowned Glyndebourne Opera House, the energetic quartet revelled in the enviable acoustic arena. At times, the four men seemed somewhat overawed (as, admittedly, was I) by the truly beautiful concert hall, their comedic frontman joking that they had backstage a ‘dressing house' instead of the usual ‘dressing room'. The musicians (two violinist, a violist, and a cellist) certainly appreciated their majestic surroundings, performing with the utmost attention to detail and melodic nuance, and captivating the audience for the entire two hours.
The formal aspects of Garsington (guests would not dare arrive unless freshly showered, and like nothing better than to sip champagne during the interval) become completely irrelevant once one succumbs to the natural, and utterly relaxing, surroundings. The lawns are always dotted with people enjoying picnics and admiring the fifty acres of land that undulate in the distance, women walking barefoot on the grass before donning their sleekest stilettos and making their way to the Great Barn. Here, then, is the best of both worlds, catering for those with tastes that vary in formality.
Garsington's fusion of the arts and the outdoors is, quite simply, magnificent, and is an experience that commands to be repeated. The Spring Concert season runs until 22 nd May, and leads up to acclaimed productions of Rossini, Strauss and, finally, Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro. As Garsington's first-ever opera, and Mr Ingram's “favourite opera of all time”, Figaro promises to excite.
As Mr Ingrams makes his way through the breathtaking gardens, warmly greeting guest after guest, the intimate and welcoming atmosphere at Garsington becomes clear. His presence at the concerts confirms the status of Garsington as a home, rather than as an anonymous opera house, and it is this sense of relaxation that allows the audience to really connect with the emotion inherent in the shows.
The operas are performed only metres away from the house, on a stage constructed beneath windows out of which it is likely that Virginia Woolf or T.S. Eliot once leaned to admire the beautiful Italian gardens that remain today. Guests look on from stalls erected amidst the trees, so viewing the stage from an elevated position that ensures freedom of movement as well as of thought, the smell of the surrounding fauna infusing with the operatic drama before them.
The opera season, beginning in June with Rossini's Le Comte Ory, is preceded by a series of performances in the Spring Concert Season, which opened on Mayday with the charismatic and world-renowned Endellion String Quartet , ‘Quartet in Residence' at Cambridge University since 1992 and seen regularly on the BBC. The lively foursome certainly did not disappoint. Their varied score, ranging from the rousing pomp of Haydn to the more melancholy tones of Schubert's Rosamunde served as the perfect complement to the close of the day, Schubert's piece being performed once again at the end of the evening as a means of “winding down”.
Taking place in the lofty setting of the Great Barn, the walls of which are panelled with wood transported to Garsington from the renowned Glyndebourne Opera House, the energetic quartet revelled in the enviable acoustic arena. At times, the four men seemed somewhat overawed (as, admittedly, was I) by the truly beautiful concert hall, their comedic frontman joking that they had backstage a ‘dressing house' instead of the usual ‘dressing room'. The musicians (two violinist, a violist, and a cellist) certainly appreciated their majestic surroundings, performing with the utmost attention to detail and melodic nuance, and captivating the audience for the entire two hours.
The formal aspects of Garsington (guests would not dare arrive unless freshly showered, and like nothing better than to sip champagne during the interval) become completely irrelevant once one succumbs to the natural, and utterly relaxing, surroundings. The lawns are always dotted with people enjoying picnics and admiring the fifty acres of land that undulate in the distance, women walking barefoot on the grass before donning their sleekest stilettos and making their way to the Great Barn. Here, then, is the best of both worlds, catering for those with tastes that vary in formality.
Garsington's fusion of the arts and the outdoors is, quite simply, magnificent, and is an experience that commands to be repeated. The Spring Concert season runs until 22 nd May, and leads up to acclaimed productions of Rossini, Strauss and, finally, Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro. As Garsington's first-ever opera, and Mr Ingram's “favourite opera of all time”, Figaro promises to excite.