A night at the Opera… but not in Jersey’s Opera House, or in any grand opera house. The Domaine des Vaux Opera Festival will be staged in St Lawrence for the 38th year. Alasdair Crosby met Anne Binney, the originator of the festival
The word ‘opera’ brings to mind grand opera houses in capital cities, with massive auditoria, a full orchestra, stage well separated by distance from the audience… not a garden in St Lawrence.
But this is Jersey, where once a year in July the Domaine des Vaux Opera Festival takes place in a marquee in the garden. The audience is very near the stage, so close to the performers on-stage. On a warm July evening, it makes for a marvellous evening out – without the West End’s ticket prices.
This year will be the 38th season of the festival. The originator was Anne Binney, after she and her husband, Marcus had moved to the Island.
‘We had moved to Jersey,’ she said, ‘rather unexpectedly, because we had never planned to be here, but when we inherited the house from Marcus’ parents we were both working in London, in jobs that were very interesting; Marcus was the editor of Country Life and I had been working in the museum world, and working with R.I.B.A and the Arts Council to coordinate big events.
‘When we moved to Jersey, I had to give up my work, although Marcus was able to continue with his writing and journalism, and worked on projects such as ‘Save Britain’s Heritage’.
‘I was used to organising events, and I thought it would be difficult to do the same sort of thing in Jersey. My regret about leaving London was leaving the opportunities to see ballet, theatre and opera, and it seemed difficult to imagine that Jersey would provide similar opportunities.
‘We had been to performances of Pavilion Opera in English country houses, so I rang them up and said: “How about coming to Jersey?” and they said: “We’d absolutely love to come to Jersey!”
‘I’d always been a huge fan of the Zoo and Gerald Durrell, so I went off to see the Trust’s secretary, Simon Hicks, and I said I’m thinking of putting on an opera, and I’d like to raise money for the Zoo, and he said: “An opera? What can we do to help?” So that was the start of our long and happy association.’
‘Our house was too long and narrow to accommodate an audience on three side of a central stage, so we put up a marquee. I thought I’d do it once and see how the evening went. But it proved very popular, so we thought we’d do it for another year, and then for a third year… and a fourth year… and so it has gone on.’
Anne continued: ‘It’s quite mad that we’ve continued for 38 seasons! I was going to stop after ten seasons, but my children said: “Oh no, Mum, you can’t possibly stop at ten. You’ve got to go on a bit longer. And now grandchildren are saying: ‘When’s the opera? Whom can we invite? Can we bring our friend?’ The whole family provides a helpful circle. It is a lot of work — you can’t cut corners.
‘People always say: “Does it get easier with time?” Easier only in that I don’t relax and forget to do something! It is just the same amount of work every year, really!’
The hard work is worth it, she believes, because people love the opera festival, and it raises quite reasonable sums for the two charities. The Zoo is the principal charity; she aims to raise between £20,000 and £25,000 for it, which, over the years, has added up to quite a tidy sum.
There is also a secondary charity that benefits from the festival; this year it is St John Ambulance. There is always a raffle on the Gala Night, and the money raised from that from is doubled the festival funds and it all goes to the charity. This year, the money raised will go towards training and training equipment for St John Ambulance.
For the last 28 years the opera company has been Diva Opera.
‘They are brilliant, they really are,’ she said. ‘They pay great attention to detail, and choose costumes that fit the period of the opera, and their singers can act as well. Because the audience is close to them, they can’t just stand there and sing, as one might on a big stage in an opera house.
And they have minimal sets, that are very effective and work incredibly well, with just a few tables and chairs or a screen. They are a very talented lot.’
This year, the programme is Puccini’s La Bohème (6 July) and Rossini’s | La Cenerentola (Cinderella) on 7 July. The ‘Opera Gala’ will be on 8 July, and on the last day, 9 July, the Ballet d’Jèrri will have their own end of season show.
- For bookings, go to www.eventbrite.com/e/domaine-des-vaux-opera-festival-2026-tickets-1205391431219 or phone Mrs Anne Binney MBE, on 01534 863129; 07797 923406.
