2027 Festival | Chamber Opera

2025 Festival | Chamber Opera

BEMF Chamber Opera Series presents
John Frederick Lampe’s The Dragon of Wantley

Paul O'Dette & Stephen Stubbs, Musical Directors
Gilbert Blin, Stage Director
Robert Mealy, Concertmaster
Melinda Sullivan, Choreographer

Saturday, June 12, 2027 | 8PM
NEC's Jordan Hall, Boston, MA

A fire-breathing dragon is terrorizing the Yorkshire countryside, and only the local squire, Moore of Moore Hall can save the day.

If only he can be bothered to put down his beer.

The Dragon of Wantley, the most popular operatic production of the entire 18th century in England, enjoyed a 45-year run. Lampe deftly lampoons the excesses of Handelian opera in this hilarious farce of 1736.

This encore presentation of BEMF's 2023 production is led by BEMF’s GRAMMY-winning Musical Directors Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs and acclaimed Stage Director Gilbert Blin—an all-star roster of 18 singers, dancers, and instrumentalists combined with period-inspired staging and lavish costumes, bring this rollicking masterpiece to life in a must-see operatic event!

“Spellbinding.”

—The Boston Globe

PRODUCTION PHOTOS

Photos by Kathy Wittman

PRE-OPERA TALK

Celebrated author and musicologist Ellen T. Harris introduces the opera before the original 2023 performances in Boston.

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THE BEMF CHAMBER OPERA SERIES