Manflu delays posting!

I've been laid low with manflu over the past few days - getting through a thousand handkerchiefs, wheezing and generally feeling so sorry for myself that everything else has been laid aside.  This appalling illness (female persons can refrain from comment) has prevented me reporting on the joys of a budget production of "The Magic Flute" at Saint Mary in the Castle recently - the venue for the International Composers' Festival I reported on a couple of weeks ago.

Jenny Miller is a retired opera singer living in Saint Leonard's.  She runs a summer school for young singers from her home, and, as part of this, puts on an opera performance.  This year it was "The Magic Flute" and I was, to say the least, a little apprehensive.  Saint Mary in the Castle is a beautiful setting for a concert - but staging an opera that often involves elaborate stage effects is a different matter.  And would a young person be able to sing the terrifyingly difficult arias of the Queen of the Night without falling flat on her face?

Any budget production involves a certain suspension of disbelief.  Instead of an orchestra we had a grand piano and a keyboard; for scenery a simple if dramatic screen with a central circle cut out of it; and a variety of multifunctional props - chief among them a large and billowing sheet that played so many roles that someone suggested it deserved to take a bow in its own right.

But the combination of beautiful music and accomplished singers - not a turkey among them - ensured success on the night.  Monique Klongtruadroke, from Thailand, succeeded in hitting the high notes as the Queen of the Night, and Bradley Smith's light tenor, as Tamino, was perfect for the setting. Particular mention should be made of Alice Rose Privett, Jenny Miller's daughter, whom we had heard before at a recital, and whose beautiful and expressive singing will, we hope, be heard in more glamorous venues in the future.  In the interim, seize any chance you can to hear her.

Antony Mair