Attending If Opera is always a highlight of my summer and, celebrating their 30th anniversary of memorable productions in the English countryside, they return to Church Farm in Wingfield for a second year this August with a suitably celebratory line-up. It baffles me that If Opera isn’t as much of a fixture on the English social season as Glyndebourne, yet that’s part of its charm; the festival still has that ‘hidden gem’ vibe which attracts in-the-know locals rather than Hooray Henrys year after year and appeals to both avid music lovers and those looking for a uniquely British summer festival experience. Unlike other British opera festivals, guests aren’t obliged to wear black tie, so it’s a far more relaxed, enjoyable affair.
Arrive at Church Farm well ahead of curtain up in order to enjoy a drink at the pop-up bar, pre-theatre dinner at the Cowshed by Homewood restaurant, or pack up your trusty Fortnum’s hamper and nab one of the idyllic picnic spots. The garden party atmosphere is an unmissable part of attending a performance and this year’s suitably light-hearted programme features a mix of opera and operetta, baroque drinking songs and a music masterclass. Other events are the Family Fiesta Day (9 August) with singing workshop for the next generation of opera-goers, while the annual Picnic Prom will conclude the 30th birthday celebrtions (16 August), with the Syd Lawrence Orchestra and Marvin Muoneké Quartet promising an unforgettable evening of swing and jazz.
Carmen (6, 8, 12, 15 August)
The small but exciting programme opens with director James Hurley’s interpretation of Bizet’s Carmen; restoring the original pantomime scene in Act I, a rare feature of modern productions paying tribute to opéra-comique and the “theatre of the fair”. Hurley has taken inspiration from the origins of the genre and breathes new life into the character of Carmen, the Spanish street performer who lives amongst an impoverished troupe of comic players on the streets of Paris at the end of the 19th century.
Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy’s libretto will be reborn by If Opera in an English garden this summer, with designer Laura Stanfield encapsulating the Parisian street life that is the backdrop to Carmen’s colourful story. A spellbinding tribute to Georges Bizet’s masterpiece, which first premiered in 1875 and has been a beloved fixture of the opera repertoire ever since, this production is intent on authenticity and will be sung in French with English subtitles, as it should be.
If you still think you’ve seen Carmen once too often to be enticed by yet another staging, Hurley’s production features original, rarely heard music alongside Bizet’s instantly recognisable arias such as the seductive Habanera, the electrifying Seguidilla and blazing Toreador chorus, performed by Alyona Abramova in the title role, with the renowned Oliver Gooch conducting the Bristol Ensemble.
The Chocolate Soldier (11, 13 & 14 August)
Opera della Luna returns to If Opera with Oscar Straus’ 1908 sparkling comedy set in Vienna and based on George Bernard Shaw’s celebrated anti-war play Arms and the Man, in which he mocks humanity’s peculiar lust for war, “Soldiering…is the coward’s art of attacking mercilessly when you are strong, and keeping out of harm’s way when you are weak. Get your enemy at a disadvantage; and never, on any account, fight him on equal terms.”
Despite the famously cantankerous playwright fully opposing ‘Arms and the Man’ being adapted for musical theatre, adamantly refusing to have anything to do with it, audiences around the world judged with their feet and marched to theatres in droves. None were more surprised than Shaw when the opéra bouffe adaptation, renamed ‘The Chocolate Soldier’, which he had dismissed out of hand, became an international success, recouping far more in royalties than the original play.
If Opera’s production of The Chocolate Soldier will see a new orchestral arrangement of the Oscar Straus score by James Widden, performed by the Bristol Ensemble, with a new English book and libretto by Jeff Clark reinstating characters from the original play and much of Shaw’s witty dialogue. There won’t be a dry eye in the house (from laughing) thanks to observations such as, “You can always tell an old soldier by the inside of his holsters and cartridge boxes. The young ones carry pistols and cartridges; the old ones grub.”
An operetta of the finest order, long overdue a revival, If Opera’s 2026 audiences are guaranteed to be charmed by the first fully-staged UK production of The Chocolate Soldier since 1940, when a run at the Shaftesbury Theatre was ironically curtailed when the theatre was bombed during the Blitz.
Baroque Drinking Songs and the Art of Baroque Masterclass & Concert
For one evening only, the award-winning baroque-styled ensemble Vache Baroque present a cheerful programme of musical revelry with Baroque Drinking Songs (7 August), with cellar-inspired drinking songs, jigs, shanties and singalongs and works by Purcell, Handel, Cozzolani and Jenkins. This celebratory event, inviting the audience to join in and embrace joyful raucousness, is hosted by Thomas Guthrie (Lucia di Lammermoor, 2024) alongside the minstrels of Vache Baroque who bring to life a host of colourful characters, from sailors and revellers to mythic gods.
The Art of Baroque Masterclass and Concert (13 August), held at the beautiful St Mary’s Church, Wingfield, grants music lovers a further chance to immerse themselves in the Baroque music genre when leading baroque specialist and founder of the award-winning Early Opera Company, Christian Curnyn guides younger members of the If Opera ensemble in an open masterclass which welcomes participation. This rewarding experience will give attendees the chance to witness Curnyn’s unique creative process, and concludes with a 45-minute concert showcasing the astonishing progress made by the younger singers and accompanied by harpsichord virtuoso Oliver-John Ruthven.
If Opera from 6-16 August 2026 at Church Farm, Wingfield, BA14 9LE. For more information and tickets please visit the website.
