| Glyndebourne Festival Opera | |
|---|---|
 The new theatre, 31 July 2007 | |
| Genre | Opera |
| Dates | 1934–present |
| Location(s) | Glyndebourne, East Sussex, England |
| Coordinates | 50°52′42″N0°03′50″E / 50.87833°N 0.06389°E |
| Founders | John Christie |
| Website | www |
Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an annual opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England.
Under the supervision of the Christie family, the festival has been held annually since 1934, except in 1941–45 during World War II and 1993 when the theatre was being rebuilt, for a 1994 reopening. Gus Christie, son of Sir George Christie and grandson of festival founder John Christie, became festival chairman in 2000. [1]
Since the company's inception, Glyndebourne has been particularly celebrated for its productions of Mozart operas. [2] Recordings of Glyndebourne's past historic Mozart productions have been reissued. [3] Other notable productions included their 1980s production of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess , directed by Trevor Nunn, and later expanded from the Glyndebourne stage and videotaped in 1993 for television, with Nunn again directing. While Mozart operas have continued to be the mainstay of its repertory, the company has expanded it with productions of Janáček [4] [5] and Handel [6] operas.
The primary resident orchestra for the Glyndebourne Festival is the London Philharmonic Orchestra (since 1964). The festival's associate orchestra is the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. In January 2014, Robin Ticciati became the seventh music director of the company. [7] [8]
Past general directors of the festival have included David Pickard. [9] In November 2015, the festival announced the appointment of Sebastian F. Schwarz as its general director, effective in May 2016. [10] In March 2018 Schwarz stepped down as general director. [11] In August 2018, the festival announced the appointment of Stephen Langridge as its next artistic director, effective in the spring of 2019. [12]
The festival operates without subsidy. Its first placement of advertisements was in 2003. [13] The festival has planned to incorporate power by wind turbine, as part of its "green" initiatives. [14]
Many Glyndebourne attendees come from London, and the event is regarded as part of the English summer season. Performances start in the afternoon, enabling Londoners to leave town after lunch, and finish in time for them to catch the last train back. A long interval allows opera-goers the opportunity for picnic dinners on the extensive lawns or in one of the restaurants in the grounds. Annually in London, the company presents an opera performance at The Proms. [15]
In 1968, Glyndebourne Festival Opera established a touring ensemble, Glyndebourne Touring Opera, which in its first season took opera productions to Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield and Oxford. In addition to bringing the work of Glyndebourne Festival Opera to audiences some distance from Glyndebourne, Glyndebourne Touring Opera offers opportunities for younger opera singers to develop their craft. In 2003, the Glyndebourne Touring Opera administrative duties were absorbed back into the main Glyndebourne Festival Opera administration, and the touring company was renamed Glyndebourne on Tour. The touring company now has the name of Glyndebourne Tour. Unlike Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Glyndebourne Tour does receive some subsidy, from the Arts Council England.
As of 2022, the Tour performed in the Milton Keynes Theatre, the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury, the Theatre Royal in Norwich and the Liverpool Empire Theatre. [16]
The tour normally takes place in autumn following the festival season, and typically includes three weeks of performances at Glyndebourne, followed by one week in each of the other locations. The touring ensemble has separate music directors, as follows:
Ticciati is the first former music director of Glyndebourne on Tour to be named music director of the full Glyndebourne Festival Opera company.
Glyndebourne Festival Opera has also toured internationally, including the Adelaide Festival in 2006 with its production of Flight by Jonathan Dove and April De Angelis.
In January 2023, the company announced that the planned 2023 Glyndebourne on Tour season will not occur, as a result of the reduced funding from Arts Council England for the 2023–2026 National Portfolio. [18] In December 2023, the company announced the appointment of Adam Hickox as the new principal conductor of Glyndebourne Sinfonia, the new name for the Glyndebourne on Tour Orchestra, with immediate effect. [19]
Glyndebourne is constituted as a registered charity called Glyndebourne Productions Limited, which is a company limited by guarantee. It has a wholly owned subsidiary, Glyndebourne Enterprises Limited, which carries out merchandising, production hire and media development activities, and donates its profits to the charity. A related charity called the Glyndebourne Arts Trust carries out fund-raising activities. Glyndebourne Association America allows residents of the United States to make tax efficient donations to Glyndebourne. [20]
Glyndebourne has an annual budget of a little over £20 million, as of 2010. The Festival is the only major opera season in the United Kingdom which is not state subsidised. Glyndebourne on Tour receives an annual subsidy of around £1.5 million from Arts Council England, but is budgeted to make an annual loss even after this has been credited. The shortfall is covered by an internal cross subsidy.
The Glyndebourne Label was established in 2008 to release live recordings on CD. Commercial releases have included Mozart's Idomeneo (with Luciano Pavarotti and Gundula Janowitz), Dvořák's Rusalka and Benjamin Britten's Billy Budd . During the music directorship of Vladimir Jurowski, [21] [22] the festival began its "Glyndebourne on Screen" programme, for viewers to see performances from the festival in cinemas and live-streaming on personal computers, the latter in partnership with The Guardian newspaper.
The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is a British orchestra based in London. One of five permanent symphony orchestras in London, the LPO was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony Orchestras.
Glyndebourne is an English country house, the site of an opera house that, since 1934, has been the venue for the annual Glyndebourne Festival Opera. The house, located near Lewes in East Sussex, England, is thought to be about six hundred years old and listed at grade II.
Sir Peter Reginald Frederick Hall CBE was an English theatre, opera and film director. His obituary in The Times declared him "the most important figure in British theatre for half a century" and on his death, a Royal National Theatre statement declared that Hall's "influence on the artistic life of Britain in the 20th century was unparalleled". In 2018, the Laurence Olivier Awards, recognising achievements in London theatre, changed the award for Best Director to the Sir Peter Hall Award for Best Director.
The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE) is a British period instrument orchestra. The OAE is a resident orchestra of the Southbank Centre, London, associate orchestra at Glyndebourne Festival Opera Artistic Associate at Kings Place, and has its headquarters at Acland Burghley School. The leadership is rotated between four musicians: Matthew Truscott, Kati Debretzeni, Huw Daniel and Margaret Faultless.
The Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO) is an Edinburgh-based UK chamber orchestra. One of Scotland's five National Performing Arts Companies, the SCO performs throughout Scotland, including annual tours of the Scottish Highlands and Islands and South of Scotland. The SCO appears regularly at the Edinburgh, East Neuk, St Magnus and Aldeburgh Festivals and The Proms. The SCO's international touring receives support from the Scottish Government. The SCO rehearses mainly at Edinburgh's Queen's Hall.
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Jonathan Dove is an English composer of opera, choral works, plays, films, and orchestral and chamber music. He has arranged a number of operas for English Touring Opera and the City of Birmingham Touring Opera, including in 1990 an 18-player two-evening adaptation of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen for CBTO. He was Artistic Director of the Spitalfields Festival from 2001 to 2006.
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Dame Sarah Patricia Connolly is an English mezzo-soprano. Although best known for her baroque and classical roles, Connolly has a wide-ranging repertoire which has included works by Wagner as well as various 20th-century composers. She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours and a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to music.
Robin Ticciati is a British conductor of Italian ancestry.
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Nathan Berg is an operatic bass-baritone. He is a Grammy Award winner, and four-time Grammy nominated, a Juno award winner and 2014 Juno Awards nominee
Grace Audrey Laura St John-Mildmay was an English and Canadian soprano and co-founder, with her husband, John Christie, of Glyndebourne Festival Opera. The Canadian Encyclopedia describes her voice "as a light lyric soprano employed with much charm."
Sir George William Langham Christie was a British opera administrator, long affiliated with Glyndebourne Opera. He was the son of John Christie and Audrey Mildmay.
Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke is an Austrian operatic tenor.
Louise Alder is a British lyric soprano. She won the Dame Joan Sutherland Audience Prize at the 2017 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition and the Young Singer award at the 2017 International Opera Awards. Her debut album of Strauss Lieder titled 'Through Life and Love' with pianist Joseph Middleton, was released in July 2017 with Orchid Classics.
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