What do you get when you cross an Englishman, an Italian and a Dutchman? And when all are vying for the attention of a beautiful French girl, who in fact turns out to be Livia from Genoa...?

Set in a decidedly downmarket London hotel, Domenico Cimarosa’s scintillating comedy of European misunderstanding pitches the Age of Enlightenment headlong into Fawlty Towers. With a score replete with wit and sparkle, L’italiana in Londra (The Italian Girl in London) was the first major triumph of this great master of Italian opera in the generation before Rossini, and in 1780 was the first of Cimarosa’s operas to be given at La Scala in Milan.

For its 19th annual season, Bampton Classical Opera is delighted to be presenting this once-popular comedy with performances in July in Bampton and at the wonderful Buxton Festival, and two later performances (August and September) in Westonbirt and St John's Smith Square, London.

Keep in touch through this blog as we reveal the thrills and stresses of working on this outrageous operatic comedy.