For Daniel Norman, performing at Garsington has a huge advantage — he can just jump on his bike to get there. “There’s a lot of travelling in this job — a lot of the best-earning jobs are away, in mainland Europe,” he says. “So it’s nice to be able to do things on home turf and cycle, instead of having to get in the car or on a plane!”

It also means he can spend more time at home with his wife and three young sons, something that he isn’t able to do as much as he’d like.

Being away from home has become an inescapable part of Daniel’s life, as he balances family with his busy freelance career.

His passion for singing began early. At the age of eight he became a chorister at Lichfield Cathedral, where he “got a bit of a taste” for singing solo, and he was later a choral scholar at Wells Cathedral before coming up to New College, Oxford, also on a choral scholarship.

Perhaps surprisingly, he read engineering — “I wasn’t really interested in the academic side of music” — but was hugely involved in Oxford’s student music scene, including becoming a founder member of New Chamber Opera in 1990.

From Oxford, his career took him to London and “the choral session circuit” — which included, among others, a stint as a lay clerk at Westminster Cathedral. Further studies took him to the Britten-Pears School, to America and Canada, and finally to the opera course at the Royal Academy of Music.

His big break came at the Almeida Theatre in London, in the summer of 1998, in Hey Persephone!, followed by Powder Her Face a year later.

“It was written for the opera festival, it went on tour and we made a film for Channel 4, so it was a big hit. It’s an opera I’ve done a lot since, in Aldeburgh, St Petersburg, Boston and Vienna, which I’m very happy about, because it’s a good fun piece to do.”

From there Daniel’s career mushroomed, and has taken him to Glyndebourne, the ENO and Covent Garden, as well as various European opera houses. He is also a regular on the concert stage, and is particularly passionate about performing song recitals.

His appearance at Garsington this summer will be his fourth, having previously sung Elemer in Arabella, the Dancing Master in Ariadne and Fabrizio in last year’s UK premiere of Martinu’s Mirandolina. This year he is returning to an old favourite — Don Basilio in The Marriage of Figaro — and is relishing the prospect.

“I love playing comic characters — I enjoy the physical side of comedy. It really interests me the way something can often by expressed just by movement.

“Garsington’s a great place for that, because you’re not far from anyone. There’s something very gratifying about getting a good laugh just by the way you time a gesture or an inflexion in the way you say something.”

The Marriage of Figaro is a revival of Garsington’s 2005 production by John Cox, with the same sets and designs but slightly different costumes and a new cast. “John is a fantastic director, a real master of his craft,” says Daniel. “I was really struck by his Fidelio last year, in that you were always looking in the right place when something happened. That’s a real skill.

“In a very different way in Figaro he’s moving all the chess pieces around. But he’s very responsive to what the individual characters are like, so I imagine it will end up being very different to the original production in small details.

“And that’s the only way to do revivals, for things to change in response to the nature of the performance.

“The company itself has a lovely friendly atmosphere, and the Ingrams are always very welcoming. It’s a massive imposition for them, because we take over the house — all the bedrooms and spare rooms become dressing rooms. The whole house is the backstage area, and the Ingrams family have a couple of rooms left for themselves! It’s a complete take-over.”

Not for much longer, though — this is Garsington Opera’s final year at the manor, and their home from 2011 is the Getty family’s Wormsley Estate, set against the Chiltern Hills.

“It’s a real privilege,” says Daniel. “I think it’s going to be in the deer park, and there will be a purpose-built auditorium. They’ve got an acoustician involved as well, which is great news.

“Garsington is fantastic, and it’s a lovely setting, but it has quite a dry acoustic, and it’s very exposed to the elements. So that will be one of the advantages of the new place. But I am going to miss Garsington.”

Garsington Opera’s final season at Garsington Manor runs from June 2 to July 3 and includes The Marriage of Figaro, Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the British premiere of Rossini’s Armida. Box office: 01865 361636 or visit garsingtonopera.org