In a studio a couple of streets away from the Houses of Parliament, Bampton Opera’s Jer-emy Gray is directing tenor Oliver Mercer in Philidor’s comic opera Blaise le savet-ier: “You don’t need to kiss her again. Remember, you’ve got lots of money — you could give her more if . . . ”

Rehearsals have just started, and Mercer’s character is soon guided into a wardrobe — a compromising situation has arisen, and immediate concealment is imperative. At Bampton this year, Blaise shares a double bill with Grétry’s opera L’amant jaloux — which also features a wardrobe.

“It’s one of the reasons we put the two operas together,” Jeremy explains, “It meant we could use the same wardrobe for both productions. One interesting thing is that hiding in the wardrobe in the Grétry very much anticipates Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro. It’s very likely Beaumarchais saw the Grétry, and may have taken the idea for his play of Figaro. And it’s quite possible Mozart somehow came across the music: like all geniuses, he was a magpie, he took ideas from everything around him.”

Jeremy is plainly fascinated by this kind of detective work. He also loves to unearth operas that have been overlooked or rarely performed. But what is it about a particular score that sets his juices flowing?

“It’s really what will suit the company, our modest resources, and our approach — the rather unusual way we do things: we’re not a company with a team of people working regularly for us, so the scale has got to be right. We’re looking for a good story: we do humour well, and if I’m directing, I particularly enjoy comedy. And the music has got to be good — I don’t think that, over 20 years now, we’ve ever done anything that hasn’t been worth doing.”

Bampton is very much a husband and wife operation — Jeremy’s wife, Gilly French, also sang in the early productions.

“We are both busy full-time teachers, but otherwise Bampton Opera dominates our lives,” Jeremy says. “We share the English translations, raise funds, we do a lot of the organisation — we do have a part-time administrator, but he’s only paid one day a week. When the performers come to Bampton we feed them for five days, and we organise accommodation. We deal with all sorts of things in the background.”

Auditioning new singers is another shared responsibil-ity — Bampton has always been keen to discover and nurture fresh vocal talent.

“The first thing we look for is vocal quality, absolutely,” Gilly says. “We want a full and rounded voice, and a sound that blends with the other voices we’re after. There’s also an indefinable something — I wouldn’t go so far as to say that we cast on personality, but we do have to ask ourselves: ‘Are we going to get on with this person?’ Another factor is whe-ther we think they are playing themselves in an audition, or putting over the role they’d be singing.”

In due course, all the arrangements are made, singers chosen, and rehearsals completed. A new production is ready for its audience, outdoors in Bampton’s Deanery Garden. “The last few days before a first night, I’m lucky if I sleep!” Jeremy laughs. “And there’s always a worry about the weather. But we do have contingency plans for going indoors if necessary.”

Performances at Bampton take place this Friday and Saturday, July 20 and 21. For tickets visit www.bamptonopera.org or call 01367 810769.