OperaBuff 🇬🇧

About the channel

For ten years in the 1990s I ran two CD companies specialising in historical opera. Through it I became friends with collectors, critics and artists, including John Ardoin, Bill Park and Mark Ricaldone, who entrusted me with a wealth of unpublished material. Some was issued on CD at the time; much remained unissued and will now appear on YouTube. Also recently, clearing my storage, I rediscovered many cassettes of performances I attended and recorded, albeit with very primitive equipment. Occasionally there are brief gaps while I turned the cassette, and friends can sometimes be heard chatting. Re-listening to them, I realised they form an important record of London’s musical life in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I hope these recordings will give pleasure both to those who never had the chance to attend such performances and to younger listeners who are curious. I will also upload items simply because I enjoy them, whether rare or well known, for those who are not yet familiar.