An annual opera concert held in the grounds of a stately home has come under threat following noise complaints and claims the music is only for “posh folk.”
Winslow Hall in Buckinghamshire first played host to the Stowe Opera festival last year, with a production of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro in a marquee outside the 17th century Grade I-listed mansion.
This summer it went on to host six performances of Bizet’s Carmen, rehearsals for which prompted several neighbours to complain to the local council.
As a result, the home’s owner, Christopher Gilmour, now fears for the concerts’ future.
The son of the late Tory cabinet minister Lord Gilmour said “a chorus of several residents” had been voicing their objections to the rehearsals.
“What hurts most is that one of the most vehement complainants is a man who said he liked loud noise but only if it was from a rock concert,” he told the Daily Mail.
“He didn’t care for opera, which he said was only for posh folk.”
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