(Photo credit: Sarah Hickson)

Glyndebourne has announced its largest mainstage community opera in its history to take place in February 2025.

The amateur singers and instrumentalists will perform alongside professional musicians in the world premiere of Jonathan Dove and April De Angelis’ “Uprising.” Appearing on stage will be a community chorus of 110 singers made up of 60 young people (aged 14-19) and 51 adults from across Sussex, along with eight drummers from the Brighton & Hove Percussion Ensemble. Another 24 young instrumentalists, predominantly from Brighton and East Sussex Youth Orchestra, will appear in the orchestra pit, playing alongside professional musicians from the Glyndebourne Sinfonia and players from the Jerwood Pit Perfect scheme. The professional cast including Ffion Edwards, Madeleine Shaw, Julieth Lozano Rolong, Ross Ramgobin and Nkululeko Innocent Masuku.

“Uprising” explores themes of youth activism and the climate crisis. The opera examines the state of the world through the eyes of the young, and asks whether one person has the power to make a difference. “How can someone as small as me change anything?”, asks Lola, the opera’s teenage protagonist, horrified by the destruction of the rainforests. The plot follows a mother and a daughter navigating their relationship through a time of personal and global turmoil.

Ivor Novello Award-winner Jonathan Dove composed Glyndebourne’s first community opera, “Hastings Spring,” on Hastings Pier in 1990. His breakthrough work, the 1998 opera “Flight,” was also commissioned by Glyndebourne. The environment has been a central theme of Dove’s work for over 20 years. He said of his new project, “‘Uprising’ is my fifth and most urgent operatic attempt to write about the biggest thing that’s happening, this time through the eyes of a teenage girl who becomes an activist. It’s inspired by Greta Thunberg and Fridays for the Future, and the search for a sustainable way of living.”

The development of the project also involved a collaboration with Human Hive. The organization worked with Glyndebourne on a year-long series of workshops to engage the teenage participants in the ways in which they can change the world through opera. “Uprising” will be produced as sustainably as possible, with the aim that all scenery and costumes are either re-used, rented or recycled and will go on to a further life once the production finishes.

Glyndebourne’s Artistic Director Stephen Langridge stated in a press release, “Glyndebourne has a long tradition of commissioning community operas. Uprising, the largest scale to date, responds to the climate emergency – in the eyes of most young people, the single most important issue facing us. We are excited to be on this journey which will culminate in over a hundred young people and community members working alongside professional singers and orchestral musicians on Glyndebourne stage.”

The production will be directed by Sinéad O’Neill and designed by Ana Inés Jabares-Pita.

The premiere of “Uprising” will take place on Feb. 28 at 7 p.m., March 1 and 2, at 3 p.m. There will also be a dedicated performance for schools on Feb. 26 at 11 a.m.