BENJAMIN Britten’s Peter Grimes will open this year’s opera festival at Hampshire’s Grange Park.

The lawns of stunning Grange stately home at Northington, north of Winchester, will be the setting for four operas this season as the festival also stages La Traviata by Verdi, Don Quichotte by Massenet and Queen of Spades by Tchaikovsky.

Among the highlights will be Carl Tanner, the American tenor who is reprising the role of Hermann in Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades and singing the title role in Peter Grimes. Clive Bayley, one of the most sought-after bass singers, will sing Don Quichotte.

La Traviata, with designs by Richard Hudson who is renowned for his 1994 Onegin set at Glyndebourne, is promised to be sumptuous and heart-rending.

After last season’s success when the normally closed house was open to everyone after the opera, Grange Park is to repeat the offering.

The audience can have a cocktail in the bar, sing along by the piano, dance along to live tribute bands – or simply wander through one of the most spectacular neoclassical mansions in Europe.

Grange Park Opera is now established as one of Europe’s major opera festivals, acclaimed for its wonderful floodlit setting as well as its strong performances.

The festival starts on Friday, May 30, and runs until Saturday, July 12.

Singers, conductors, orchestra and directors include Hampshire’s Claire Rutter as Violetta in La Traviata. Gianluca Marcianó will conduct the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra for Queen of Spades and the BBC Concert Orchestra for La Traviata.

Stephen Barlow, artistic director of Buxton Festival, will conduct Peter Grimes.

The long interval is almost as much of a performance as anything that happens on stage.

During the break, the audience dines either in the semi-ruined dining room or picnics Raj-style in a tent.

More information at: grangeparkopera.co.uk.