(Photo: Richard Hubert Smith) “’La traviata’ last night a failure. Was the fault mine or the singers? Time will tell.” So wrote Giuseppe Verdi in a letter the day after the premiere performance in Venice in 1853. Fast forward to 2024, in the week of his Birthday, to Glyndebourne’s Tom Cairns 2014 revival production; and Verdi would probably have written {…}
(Photo: © Glyndebourne Productions Ltd. Photography by Richard Hubert Smith) “Carmen” is unquestionably one of the most popular works ever composed and has become an almost permanent fixture in the repertoire of opera houses. However, this presents something of a dilemma for those creative artists and directors who desire to produce the opera in a more contemporary setting and feel {…}
The Glyndebourne Festival has announced a cast change for its production of “Carmen” on May 23, 2024. The company noted that John Findon will sing the role of Don Jose replacing Dmytro Popov. Findon is a tenor who has performed at the Bayerische Staatsoper, the English National Opera, the Royal Opera House, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Chamber Orchestra, {…}
The Glyndebourne Festival has announced its 2025 season. New Productions The season will see the company’s first-ever production of Wagner’s “Parsifal” directed by Jetske Mijnssen. Robin Ticciati conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra with a cast that includes Daniel Johansson as Parsifal and mezzo-soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek as Kundry. Performance Dates: May 17 – June 24, 2025 Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” {…}
© Glyndebourne Productions Ltd. Photo: Richard Hubert Smith Trigger warning: Mozart aficionados, look away now. One might think Wolfgang Amadeus to be somewhat overrated, and the fact that he was hugely prolific, widely acknowledged to be a prodigy and is almost globally asserted to have been a genius, does little by way of endearing his music to my ear. I {…}
The 2024 Glyndebourne Festival has been announced celebrating its 90th season. The season will open with a new production of Bizet’s “Carmen,” directed by Diane Paulus in her Glyndebourne directorial debut. Music Director Robin Ticciati and conductor Anja Bihlmaier will share conducting duties with two casts. The first cast will include mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb in the role of Carmen and {…}
Photo Credit: Richard Hubert Smith Glyndebourne has added an extra performance of Handel’s “Semele” to the Festival 2023 schedule. In response to the high demand for tickets, the company’s new production of “Semele” will have an added performance on August 21. Adele Thomas directs the debut performance of “Semele” starring soprano Joélle Harvey, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston, and tenor Stuart Jackson. {…}
A number of opera houses in the United Kingdom have released a joint statement calling for the Arts Council England (ACE) to develop an opera strategy, in conversations with audiences and colleagues across the industry. The statement said, “The boards of the Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne Opera, Opera North, the English National Opera, English Touring Opera, and Welsh National Opera are {…}
Photo credit: © Glyndebourne Productions Ltd. “La bohème”, as the archetypal verismo opera, tends to resist stagings that take it much beyond the confines of nineteenth-century Paris, and indeed non-naturalistic approaches to the work. (Audiences tend to resist them too.) The two most successful in London recently have been John Copley’s recently retired version at the Royal Opera House – {…}
UPDATE: This article, originally published on March 9, 2022, has been updated to include the artists performing. The Glyndebourne Festival will put on a charity concert to support those affected by the war in Ukraine. The showcase, which will take place on April 3 at 3 p.m. in the Glyndebourne auditorium, will feature Glyndebourne Festival artists along with the festival’s {…}
The Glyndebourne Festival has announced a revised 2021 season that will run from May 20 to August 29. “Kát’a Kabanová” will open the festival in a new production by Damiano Michieletto. The cast will include Kateřina Knĕžíková, Aigul Akhmetshina, Katarina Dalayman, Nicky Spence, Alexander Vassiliev, David Butt Philip, and Thomas Atkins. Performance Dates: May 29-June 19, 2021 Giancarlo Andretta conducts Mariame Clément’s production of Rossini’s {…}