Theatre As surely as swooping swallows announce summer, the arrival of opera at Ampleforth heralds the start of the Ryedale Festival.

A full house greeted both performances of Mozart’s penultimate opera, given in a lively new production by Nina Brazier and further invigorated by festival president John Warrack's slick new translation.

Tucked into a back corner of the stage was the Festival Ensemble, consisting of the Eka String Quartet and wind quintet Quintessence. When it fizzed into the overture’s Allegro, conducted by the festival’s versatile artistic director Christopher Glynn, we knew we were in for something special.

No festival, even Glyndebourne, is awash with cash these days, so a rudimentary set was to be expected. Nevertheless Giulia Scrimeri’s split-level design did the business: an angled cat-walk, an inviting chaise longue and some bead curtains were enough to fire the imagination.

Lighting (unattributed) did the rest. It darkened suitably for the Queen of the Night, though she and one or two others were made to linger in the shadows a little longer than strictly necessary.

Glynn kept a firm hold on tempos, via closed-circuit cameras, where singers showed signs of impulsiveness.

Such moments are part of the joy and spontaneity of intimate festival opera.

A truly comic Papageno is essential to Mozart’s wit. Luke D Williams filled the role admirably. Athletic while always looking as if about fail his Queen’s Scout badge, he sang with a clarity of tone and diction that instantly suggested a career in song recitals. His interactions were invariably well timed.

Another stand-out was Anna Rajah’s Queen, impeccably in tune when probong the stratosphere and reserving menace for her full-bodied lower resonance. Helen Bailey made an engaging Pamina, if never quite sure whether she was meant to be a full-blown soprano or something lower. Her Tamino, Ben Thapa, sported a forthright tenor; he merely needed to loosen up as a lover.

David Hansford, though youthful, already had Sarastro’s deepest notes in his bass. Time will surely bring them into a firmer focus. But he also had presence. Adam Player’s dapper Monostatos was lively, if not quite vicious. It was hard to imagine a sunnier Papagena than Caroline Kennedy.

The chorus and trios of ‘boys’ and ladies were consistently on the ball, adding flavour without distraction, always a fine line. Surely it’s time for the festival to consider a third, even fourth, performance. Evenings like this are too good to miss.