In true Bampton style, this year's open-air offering in the exquisite Deanery Garden will not be standard Mozart fare in honour of the great man's 250th birthday. Instead, director Jeremy Gray has turned the spotlight on Spanish composer Vincent Martin y Soler, a contemporary of Mozart's, who shared his librettist Lorenzo da Ponte and who died 200 years ago.

The piece he has chosen is a domestic farce, La Capricciosa Corretta, which translates into English as The Taming of the Shrew, but, as Jeremy is quick to point out, it bears no resemblance to Shakespeare's play of the same name.

"I think they're using that as a marketing ploy," he laughed. "But we are using the Italian title as well. It's interesting because it was written in London, so the Shakespeare link is a possibility, but there's no evidence that Da Ponte read any Shakespeare."

A glance at the plot soon dispels any notions of Shakespearian inspiration. The action takes place in a single day, and revolves around the trials and tribulations of Bonario, caused by his wilful and much younger wife, Ciprigna. In typical Da Ponteian fashion, it is left to the scheming servants, Fiuta and Cilia, to bring her under control.

"It's absolutely the sort of piece we enjoy doing," Jeremy told me, with obvious relish. "It fits into a context around Mozart and therefore is of interest to us and to our audiences. The humour's good and it gets off to a really good start, which I think is really important, especially in an open-air venue. And it's good music, which is the most important thing."

The title role will be sung by Kim Sheehan, who was in last year's production of Paisello's The Barber of Seville, while a Bampton regular, Amanda Pitt, will be playing one of the servants, Cilia "an important servant," Jeremy hastened to add, "as servants always are in 18th-century operas."

The remaining members of the cast are all new to Bampton. Adrian Powter sings the role of Bonario; John Lofthouse is the other servant, Fiuta; Tamsin Coombs and Peter Van Hulle are Bonario's grown-up children, Isabella and Valerio, from a previous marriage, James Harrison is the scheming Don Giglio and Eamonn Mulhall is Isabella's lover, Lelio.

"We think we've got a fabulous team," said Jeremy. "They're good on stage, and they're very good singers. They're also very intelligent about what they're doing and opera has to be intelligent otherwise it doesn't work."

I couldn't help wondering how Jeremy manages to entice audiences, year after year, to pieces they almost certainly haven't heard of.

"That is very difficult," he admitted. "The Bampton audience is fairly regular people do tend to come back each year. I don't know how we entice them. I suppose it's partly having something about the opera which might be appealing. Doing a familiar story by an unfamiliar composer is a good way of getting round it.

"I suppose our audience on the whole is quite an informed audience and they come prepared to accept whatever we throw at them, and to accept the novelty of the experience. And usually they enjoy it."

This year, Jeremy is taking a risk by putting on a single performance at The Theatre at Headington, and admits that he is worried about whether he can attract the same level of enthusiasm he has come to expect at Bampton.

"We thought we really ought to try and do something in Oxford, because we're not very well known in the city. The Theatre at Headington was available and very suitable, and they seemed quite interested in it, so I hope that we do get an audience. Also, it's always something of a relief to do a performance indoors, because outdoors you don't know what's going to happen!"

Later this summer, at Westonbirt and in London, Bampton will be performing The Jewel Box, a selection of neglected Mozart arias and ensembles, cleverly woven into a new plot by writer and musicologist Paul Griffiths.

"This was the right year to do it and we're the only company doing it," said Jeremy. "It's a chance for people to come and hear Mozart at his very best, but with pieces that are otherwise not performed."

But first, La Capricciosa Corretta. If you are still unsure about going to see a piece that lacks familiarity, Jeremy is happy to try and change your mind.

"It's nothing to be frightened of because the music is so bright and singable and dance-like," he stressed. "We just want people to relish the experience of something that is fun, which is very good music, and which will be a first-rate production with our wonderful cast, and go away at the end having had a really good evening out."

La Capricciosa Corretta is at Bampton's Deanery Garden tonight and tomorrow night (tel. 01367 860574), and at The Theatre, Headington, on Saturday, July 29 (tel. 01865 759138). For more details the visit www.bamptonopera.org website.