Unassuming charm & surprising sophistication: Bampton Classical Opera in the Italian version of Grétry’s take on Beauty & the Beast

Grétry: Zemira e Azor – Gwilym Bowen (Azor), Ffion Edwards (Zemira) – Bampton Classical Opera

Grétry, Holzbauer, Jomelli: Zemira e Azor; Ffion Edwards, Gwilym Bowen, Samuel Pantcheff, Andrew Irwin, Sian Dicker, Rachel Roper, director: Jeremy Gray, CHROMA, conductor: Andrew Griffiths; Bampton Classical Opera at Smith Square Hall
Reviewed 18 September 2026

A rare opportunity to experience one of Grétry’s best known operas in an even rare version, with Bampton’s young cast bringing out the work’s charm and melodic felicity in an engaging and imaginative production

Born in Liège in 1741, André Ernest Modeste Grétry made his career in opera in Paris, writing mainly opéras comiques. He wrote over 50 operas from his first success in 1768 through to his final opera in 1803 (he died in 1813). Though successful in the Ancien régime and despite losing property during the Revolution, he endured. The republic made him an inspector of the conservatoire amd Napoleon granted him the Légion d’honneur and a pension.

His best known operas are Zémire et Azor (from 1771) and Richard Coeur-de-lion (from 1784). Based on a text by Jean-François Marmontel, Zémire et Azor was enormously successful (over 120 performances during its first year) and remained in the French repertory until at least 1820. As with later French operas with spoken dialogue, the work underwent modifications when performed abroad. For performances in 1776 at the court of the Elector in Mannheim, the work was Italianised. The poet Mattia Verazi provided a new libretto, with recitatives by the Elector’s kapellmeister, Ignaz Holzbauer. Verazi had been a friend and collaborator of the composer Niccolo Jommelli (who had died in 1774) and presumably at his suggestion two arias by Jomelli were added to the mix. Zemira e Azor was performed at the Elector’s summer court theatre in Schwetzingen.

Grétry: Zemira e Azor – Ffion Edwards (Zemira) – Bampton Classical Opera

Mozart owned a score of the work, and his sister-in-law, Aloysia Weber, performed the role of Zémire in Vienna in 1784. The French version was a favourite with Sir Thomas Beecham, but the last UK performance seems to have been at the Camden Fetival in 1980! The 1776 Italian version seems to have languished until it was revived at the Schwetzinger SWR Festspiele in 2023.

It was the 1776 Italian version of Grétry’s Zemira e Azor that Bampton Classical Opera chose for their 2026 production, sung in a new English translation by Gilly French and Jeremy Gray. Having performed the work in Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds this summer, the production was brought to Smith Square Hall on Friday 18 September 2026. The director was Jeremy Gray, and Andrew Griffiths conducted CHROMA, with the ensemble placed at the back of the stage. Costumes were by Pauline Smith and Anne Baldwin with visuals (including two electronic screens) by David Hudd and Keith Farr.

Samuel Pantcheff was the merchant Sandro with Andrew Irwin as Sandro’s servant Ali. Ffion Edwards, Siân Dicker and Rachel Roper were Sandro’s daughters Zemira (Beauty), Fatima and Lesbia. Gwilym Bowen was Azor (the Beast). The harpsichord continuo was played by Alex Norton.

Grétry: Zemira e Azor – Gwilym Bowen (Azor), Ffion Edwards (Zemira), with Samuel Pantcheff (Sandro), Rachel Roper (Lesbia), Sian Dicker (Fatima) in the ‘magic mirror’ – Bampton Classical Opera

Marmontel’s original libretto was based on two French storiesby Mme Villeneuve and Mme Beaumont. Neither names the characters and the names are Marmontel’s, taken from exotic names in another fairy romance.  

The story unfolded in two locations, depicted either side of the stage, the palace of the Persian prince, Azor and Sandro’s home in the Strait of Hormuz (!) As the opera opens, Sandro is travelling with Ali trying to recover wealth lost due to shipwreck. Having failed they find themselves in an apparently empty palace (Azor’s home) where a meal mysteriously appears. Sandro plucks a rose as a present for his youngest daughter Zemira, incurring Azor’s wrath. Azor condemns Sandro to death and only releases him when Sandro agrees one of his daughters will return. Back home, Sandro regrets his deal with Azor and plans to return but Zemira prempts him and goes to Azor with Ali.

The action so far covers the first two acts (half the opera) with Zemira and Azor’s engagement compressed into a single act, the centrepiece of which is Zemira’s showpiece aria about a bird, where she emulates birdsong. Missing her family, Azor allows her to return home, cue a quartet for the family before Zemira returns to a despairing Azor. Her love releases him from his curse, and the happy ending is interwoven with the fairy’s explanation.

The setting was loosely modern day, and much use was made of the two electronic screens to display varied evocative videos helping to set the scene. These also formed the magic mirror that Azor produces in Act Three to help Zemira see her family. In Sandro’s home, much use was made of a lovely pop-up book telling the fairytale of Beauty and the Beast.

Grétry: Zemira e Azor Andrew Irwin (Ali), Samuel Pantcheff (Sandro) – Bampton Classical Opera

The first half of the opera was, frankly, rather slow. We encountered Gwilym Bowen’s Azor once, with a terrific aria at the end of Act One. As usual with the story of Beauty & the Beast (see the Disney cartoon), the imaginative design for the Beast made him interesting rather than scary. Ffion Edwards’s Zemira got to do little but be charming. The other two daughters, Sian Dicker as Fatima and Rachel Roper as Lesbia, were rather evocative of Rossini’s take on Cinderella’s sisters! But the focus was on Samuel Pantcheff’s warm, thoughtful Sandro and the comic servant of Andrew Irwin’s Ali. This is a role that may have influenced Mozart’s Papageno.

In Act Three, Bowen and Edwards interacted thoughtfully, doing their best to cram their developing relationship into a sequence of recitatives punctuated by Edwards’s spectacular aria. With her returning home, Act Four opened with a quartet for Pantcheff, Edwards, Dicker and Roper which provided a vastly different texture, before all ended happily, with Andrew Irwin doubling as the fairy at the end (a spoken role in the French original).

The production wisely did not try to make the piece more than it was and this proved to be an engaging evening in the theatre with a familiar story charmingly told. The singers’ diction was excellent and the text came over well which is important in an unfamilar story.

Grétry: Zemira e Azor – Rachel Roper (Lesbia), Sian Dicker (Fatima) – Bampton Classical Opera

Gwilym Bowen made a fine Azor, bringing a heroic edge to his voice along with an element of bravura in the arias, though it was a shame that his big aria opening Act Three, when he despairs of his fate, was delivered from the balcony high above us and we wished he was closer. Even when the Beast, Bowen brought out the character’s kindness and dignity. Ffion Edwards made a charming Zemira, moving from her care for her father to determination and dignity in the face of the Beast. Then her delivery of her big aria in Act Three was nothing short of spectacular, no wonder Bowen’s Beast fell in love!

Pantcheff made a warm and thoughtful Sandro, despite not being a success in his business enterprises his care for his daughters came over. As Ali, Andrew Irwin had a significant role to play as the character seemed to be permanently scared of something! Irwin clearly relished opportunities and challenges, though his voice seemed somewhat under pressure at the top in his arias. As the other two sisters, Dicker and Roper bickered and ganged up on Edwards in an engaging manner. Yet each had an aria, both by Jomelli, which deepend their characters. These pushed things in a somewhat more serious direction, but both Dicker and Roper gathered up the opportunities given.

Andrew Griffiths and the orchestra gave a fine account of the work’s substantial overture, far more complex than we might have expected. There was plenty for the players to do with flutes, oboe, bassoon and horns alongside strings, plus Alex Norton’s admirable continuo.

Grétry: Zemira e Azor – Rachel Roper (Lesbia), Sian Dicker (Fatima), Samuel Pantcheff (Sandro), Rachel Roper (Lesbia) – Bampton Classical Opera

There is definitely a role for this version of the opera, enabling companies to give Grétry’s work without the need for extensive spoken dialogue. This unassuming yet imaginative staging from Bampton managed to bring out the work’s charm with a cast of young voices who made their roles work. Grétry’s Zémire et Azor is not quite a forgotten masterpiece, but it is a work worth reassessing and as usual Bampton did sterling work enabling us to do this.