A Night at the Opera . . . the title conjures up images of palatial opera houses, with glittering lights, sumptuous costumes and lavish sets. Well, St Mary’s Church in Kidlington might not quite match up, but last Saturday members of KAOS and the Oxford Sinfonia, under the energetic baton of Paul Ingram, created plenty of sparkle of their own.

This was, quite simply, a gloriously inspiring programme, which picked out some of opera’s most moving and vibrant moments, from the familiar to the not-so-familiar, creating a wonderful mix of well-loved excerpts and tantalising tasters of operas that are rarely performed. So from Handel’s Alcina we were taken to the cosy familiarity of The Magic Flute and Cosi Fan Tutte, with a chorus from Idomeneo thrown in as a striking contrast; then from the chorus of Scottish refugees in Verdi’s Macbeth — written a few years before his first great masterpiece, Rigoletto — to Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, and it was with his famous waltz scene that we were taken, joyfully, into the interval. The Flying Dutchman opened the second half, and there were excerpts from William Tell and Lucia di Lammermoor before the evening closed in dramatic style with Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances.

The chorus impressed throughout with their infectious enthusiasm, rich and vivid singing, and their responsiveness to the various situations and emotions of their operatic journey. There were some impressive solo voices, too, most notably the lovely, pure tones of Anna Nakamura’s Elettra from Idomeneo. They were well supported by some stirring and incisive accompaniment from the orchestra. What was less impressive was the disturbance from the people responsible for the catering. Those seated near the back had the unwelcome additional accompaniment of jingling coins, rustling paper tablecloths and loud chattering.

Otherwise, this was an enthralling, toe-tappingly wonderful evening — and I still can’t get that Tchaikovsky waltz out of my head. More, please!