Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an English
opera festival held at
GlyndebourneGlyndebourne is a country house, thought to be about six hundred years old, located near Lewes in East Sussex, England. It is also the site of an opera house which, with the exception of its closing during the Second World War, for a few immediate post-war years, and in 1993 during the...
, an
English country houseThe English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a London house. This allowed to them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these people, the term distinguished between town and country...
near
LewesLewes is the county town of East Sussex, England and historically of all of Sussex. It is a civil parish and is the centre of the Lewes local government district. The settlement has a history as a bridging point and as a market town, and today as a communications hub and tourist-oriented town...
, in
East SussexEast Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
History
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.
Since the company's inception, Glyndebourne Opera is particularly celebrated for its productions of
MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
operaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
s. Recordings of Glyndebourne's past historic Mozart productions have been reissued. Other notable productions included their 1980s production of
George GershwinGeorge Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
's
Porgy and BessPorgy and Bess is an opera, first performed in 1935, with music by George Gershwin, libretto by DuBose Heyward, and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward. It was based on DuBose Heyward's novel Porgy and subsequent play of the same title, which he co-wrote with his wife Dorothy Heyward...
, directed by
Trevor NunnSir Trevor Robert Nunn, CBE is an English theatre, film and television director. Nunn has been the Artistic Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He has directed musicals and dramas for the stage, as well as opera...
, and later expanded from the Glyndebourne stage and videotaped in 1993 for television, with Nunn again directing. Mozart operas have continued to be the mainstay of its
repertoryRepertory or rep, also called stock in the United States, is a term used in Western theatre and opera.A repertory theatre can be a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation...
, but the company has expanded its repertoire with productions of
JanáčekLeoš Janáček was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and all Slavic folk music to create an original, modern musical style. Until 1895 he devoted himself mainly to folkloristic research and his early musical output was influenced by...
and
HandelGeorge Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
operas.
The primary resident orchestra for the Glyndebourne Festival is the
London Philharmonic OrchestraThe London Philharmonic Orchestra , based in London, is one of the major orchestras of the United Kingdom, and is based in the Royal Festival Hall. In addition, the LPO is the main resident orchestra of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera...
. The festival's associate orchestra is the
Orchestra of the Age of EnlightenmentThe Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment is a British period instrument orchestra. The OAE is a resident orchestra of the Southbank Centre, London, associate orchestra at Glyndebourne Festival Opera and has its headquarters at Kings Place...
. Since January 2001, the festival's music director is
Vladimir JurowskiVladimir Mikhailovich Jurowski is a Russian conductor. He is the son of conductor Mikhail Jurowski.Jurowski began his musical studies at the Moscow Conservatory...
. Jurowski is scheduled to step down from the post after the 2013 season. In July 2011, the festival announced
Robin TicciatiRobin Ticciati is a British conductor of Italian ancestry. His paternal grandfather was a composer and arranger. His father is a barrister, and his mother is a therapist...
as its seventh music director, as of January 2014.
David Pickard is the current general director of the festival. The festival operates without subsidy. Its first placement of advertisements was in 2003. The festival has planned to incorporate power by wind turbine, as part of its "green" initiatives.
Many Glyndebourne attendees come from
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and Glyndebourne is regarded as part of the London/English summer
seasonThe social season or Season has historically referred to the annual period when it is customary for members of the a social elite of society to hold debutante balls, dinner parties and large charity events...
. 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 PromsThe Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in London...
.
Music directors
- Fritz Busch
Fritz Busch was a German conductor.Busch was born in Siegen, Province of Westphalia. He held posts conducting opera at Aachen, Stuttgart and Dresden. In 1933 he was dismissed from his post at Dresden because of his opposition to the new Nazi government of Germany...
(1934–1951)
- Vittorio Gui
Vittorio Gui was an Italian conductor and composer.Gui was born in Rome in 1885. In 1933 Bruno Walter invited him to be guest conductor at the Salzburg Festival....
(1952–1963)
- John Pritchard (1964–1977)
- Bernard Haitink
Bernard Johan Herman Haitink, CH, KBE is a Dutch conductor and violinist.- Early life :Haitink was born in Amsterdam, the son of Willem Haitink and Anna Haitink. He studied music at the conservatoire in Amsterdam...
(1978–1988)
- Andrew Davis
Sir Andrew Frank Davis CBE is a British conductor.Born in Ashridge, Hertfordshire to Robert J. Davis and his wife Florence J. née Badminton, Davis grew up in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, and in Watford. Davis attended Watford Boys' Grammar School, where he studied classics in his sixth form years...
(1989–2000)
- Vladimir Jurowski
Vladimir Mikhailovich Jurowski is a Russian conductor. He is the son of conductor Mikhail Jurowski.Jurowski began his musical studies at the Moscow Conservatory...
(2001–present)
Glyndebourne Touring Opera/Glyndebourne On Tour
In 1968, Glyndebourne Festival Opera established a touring ensemble, Glyndebourne Touring Opera, which in its first season took opera productions to
NewcastleNewcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
,
LiverpoolLiverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
,
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
,
SheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
and
OxfordThe city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
. 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. Unlike Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Glyndebourne On Tour does receive some subsidy, from the
Arts Council EnglandArts Council England was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three separate bodies for England, Scotland and Wales. It is a non-departmental public body of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport...
.
The schedule involves three weeks of performances at Glyndebourne, and then one week in each of the six cities and towns that the touring company visits each year. The music directors of Glyndebourne Touring Opera and Glyndebourne on Tour are separate from the Glyndebourne Festival Opera music directors. The list of the Glyndebourne Touring Opera/Glyndebourne on Tour music directors is as follows:
- Myer Fredman
Myer Fredman is a British-Australian conductor.He studied at Dartington Hall and in London with Peter Gellhorn, Vilém Tauský, Sir Adrian Boult, and was assistant conductor to Otto Klemperer, Vittorio Gui, Sir John Pritchard and Sir Charles Mackerras.He was conductor at the Glyndebourne Festival...
(1968–1974)
- Kenneth Montgomery
Kenneth Montgomery OBE is a British conductor, the only child of Lily and Tom Montgomery. His upbringing was in Wandsworth Parade and he attended the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. His musical studies were at the Royal College of Music...
(1975–1976)
- Nicholas Braithwaite
Nicholas Paul Dallon Braithwaite is an English conductor. He is the son of the conductor Warwick Braithwaite.Braithwaite studied at the Royal Academy of Music, at the Festival masterclasses in Bayreuth, and with Hans Swarowsky in Vienna. In the 1960s, Braithwaite was associate conductor of the...
(1977–1980)
- Jane Glover
Jane Glover CBE is a British-born conductor and music scholar.-Early life:Glover attended Haberdashers' Monmouth School for Girls. Her father, Robert Finlay Glover MA TD,was headmaster of Monmouth School and it was through this connection that she was able to meet Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears...
(1982–1985)
- Graeme Jenkins
Graeme James Ewers Jenkins is a British conductor, specializing in opera. He read music at the University of Cambridge, and later studied conducting at the Royal College of Music. He worked with Norman Del Mar and Sir David Willcocks, and as an Adrian Boult Conducting Scholar, Jenkins conducted...
(1986–1991)
- Ivor Bolton
Ivor Bolton is an English conductor and harpsichordist. He studied at Clare College and at the Royal College of Music...
(1992–1997)
- Louis Langrée
Louis Langrée is a French conductor. He is the son of organist and theorist Alain Langrée. One of his sisters is an amateur cellist....
(1998–2003)
- Edward Gardner
Edward Gardner is a British conductor.Gardner sang as a chorister at Gloucester Cathedral. As a youth, he played piano, clarinet and organ. He attended the King's School, Gloucester and Eton College. At the University of Cambridge, he continued as a music student, and was a choral scholar in...
(2004–2007)
- Robin Ticciati
Robin Ticciati is a British conductor of Italian ancestry. His paternal grandfather was a composer and arranger. His father is a barrister, and his mother is a therapist...
(2007–2009)
- Jakub Hrůša
Jakub Hrůša , is a Czech conductor, the son of the architect Petr Hrůša.Hrůša studied piano and trombone, and developed an interest in conducting, during his gymnasium years in Brno. Later he studied conducting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, where his teachers included Jiří...
(2010–present)
Ticciati is the first former music director of Glyndebourne on Tour to be named music director of the full Glyndebourne Opera company.
Finances
Glyndebourne is constituted as a registered charity called Glyndebourne Productions Limited, which is a
company limited by guaranteeIn British and Irish company law, a private company limited by guarantee is an alternative type of corporation used primarily for non-profit organisations that require legal personality. A guarantee company does not usually have a share capital or shareholders, but instead has members who act as...
. 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.
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 EnglandArts Council England was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three separate bodies for England, Scotland and Wales. It is a non-departmental public body of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport...
, but is budgeted to make an annual loss even after this has been credited. The shortfall is covered by an internal cross subsidy.
Other media
The Glyndebourne LabelThe Glyndebourne Label is a UK based record label founded in 2006 to release live recordings of Glyndebourne Festival Opera performances.Releases on The Glyndebourne Label draw on archival recordings from 1960 to the present day and are released in pairs with one recording from the original opera...
was established in 2008 to release live recordings. Commercial releases have included Mozart's
IdomeneoIdomeneo, re di Creta ossia Ilia e Idamante is an Italian language opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto was adapted by Giambattista Varesco from a French text by Antoine Danchet, which had been set to music by André Campra as Idoménée in 1712...
and
DvořákAntonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
's
RusalkaIn Slavic mythology, a rusalka was a female ghost, water nymph, succubus, or mermaid-like demon that dwelled in a waterway....
. The festival has also begun its "Glyndebourne on Screen" programme, for viewers to see performances from the festival in cinemas and live-streaming on personal computers.
See also
- Glyndebourne Opera House
Glyndebourne is a country house, thought to be about six hundred years old, located near Lewes in East Sussex, England. It is also the site of an opera house which, with the exception of its closing during the Second World War, for a few immediate post-war years, and in 1993 during the...
- Country house opera
Country house opera is opera performed at a country house, whether in the house itself, in the grounds, or in an adapted or purpose built theatre in the grounds. It is a feature in particular of the English summer. Country house opera is usually initiated by private enthusiasts, and relies on...
- List of opera festivals
- List of music festivals in the United Kingdom
External links