A review of A Christmas Night at the Opera at Stamford Corn Exchange

London Festival Opera certainly helped bring on a feeling of 'Christmas spirit' with their spectacular show at Stamford Corn Exchange, A Christmas Night at the Opera.

The evening was a musical feast celebrating some of the greatest and most popular operas, such as Verdi's La Traviata, Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and Puccini's La Boheme along with some very amusing Gilbert and Sullivan and Christmas Carols.

The programme consisted of a good mixture of opera from heart rendering pieces to funny and everything in between, Philip Blake Jones the artistic director gave a brief synopsis of the story behind each piece of opera before it was performed which helped give a better understanding of these popular pieces of music we so often hear and do not necessarily understand the story behind them.

All the opera singers have toured the world's opera houses so it was a delight to see them here in Stamford, my particular favourite was when Angela Simkin the Mezzo-Soprano sang Bizet's Habanera from Carmen where she left the stage and handed out red roses to the gentlemen in the audience, flirting with them as the story behind the song tells.

The audience was a lovely mix of all ages and it was great to see some young children there enjoying the show.

At the end of this magical evening there were Christmas carols performed including a beautiful version of O Holy Night and the audience were asked to join in with Hark the Herald Angels Sing.

A delightful evening spent - hope to see you again in Stamford London Festival Opera.

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