From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the Glyndebourne opera festival. See Glyndebourne for details of the country house and opera house

Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an opera festival held at Glyndebourne, a 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 1993, when the theatre was being rebuilt. The renovated theatre opened in 1994. Gus Christie, son of Sir George Christie and grandson of festival founder John Christie, became festival chairman in 2000.^[1]

Glyndebourne is most famous for its productions of Mozart operas; many of those productions are considered the finest ever done of those operas in the twentieth century, and the recordings from those stagings are still in print.

In the late 1980s, the Glyndebourne Festival staged a new production of George Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess". It was directed by Trevor Nunn, and was highly acclaimed. The production was subsequently expanded from the small Glyndebourne stage and videotaped in 1993 for television. Trevor Nunn again directed.

In recent years Mozart has continued to be the mainstay of its repertory, but the company has received particular acclaim for its outstanding productions of Janáček and Handel operas.

The primary resident orchestra for the Glyndebourne Festival is the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The festival's associate orchestra is the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Since January 2001, the festival's music director is Vladimir Jurowski.^{[2] [3]}

David Pickard is the general director of the festival. The festival operates without subsidy. Its first placement of advertisements was in 2003.^[4]

Many Glyndebourne attendees come down from London, and Glyndebourne is regarded as part of the London/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.

• Fritz Busch (1934–1951)
• Vittorio Gui (1952–1963)
• John Pritchard (1964–1977)
• Bernard Haitink (1978–1988)
• Andrew Davis (1989–2000)
• Vladimir Jurowski (2001–present)

In 1968, Glyndebourne Festival Opera established its first 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 the Glyndebourne Festival Opera to audiences outside of Glyndebourne, Glyndebourne Touring Opera offered opportunities to 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. Unlike Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Glyndebourne On Tour does receive a portion of subsidy, from the Arts Council of England.

The schedule involves 3 weeks of performances at Glyndebourne, and then one week in each of the six cities that the touring company visits each year. Glyndebourne Touring Opera and Glyndebourne on Tour have had their own music directors separate from the Glyndebourne Festival Opera. These music directors have included the following conductors:

• Kenneth Montgomery (1975-1976)
• Nicholas Braithwaite (1976-1980)
• Jane Glover (1981-1985)
• Graeme Jenkins (1986-1991)
• Ivor Bolton (1992-1997)
• Louis Langrée (1998-2003)
• Edward Gardner (2004-2007)
• Robin Ticciati (2007-present)

• Glyndebourne Opera House
• Country house opera
• List of opera festivals
• List of music festivals in the United Kingdom

• Glyndebourne Festival Opera website