Stunning opera festival at Glyndebourne UK

The summer opera festival at Glyndebourne is a heart of the social season, where glamorous black-tied and sparkly gowned revellers picnicked on the lawns before enjoying a spectacular night at the opera. When the curtain rose on Glyndebourne’s first ever production of Richard Wagner’s final work Parsifal, it revealed a cast of c200 world-class performers in a magnificent, purpose-built opera house. This was deep in the rolling hills of East Sussex, near Lewes. Revellers in their finery sipped champagne and picnic on immaculate lawns during the famous 90-minute intervals.

Glyndebourne House

Wine being poured, before the opera started

Picnic tables during the 90 min interval

The summer festival grew far beyond its modest origins i.e an amateur entertainment dreamed up by an opera-lover and his muse on their honeymoon. A house had been at Glyndebourne since C15th. The present house’s appearance is mainly from 1870s, when its Victorian owner William Langham Christie extended with bay windows and fancy brickwork to conceal the C17th facade.

But Glyndebourne’s most famous change was made by Langham Christie’s grandson John, who came into legal possession in 1920. The new oval venue has shallow pitched roofs and a prominent central fly tower. The 1200-seat auditorium, fly tower, stage and side stages are at the centre of the building. Foyers and back of house spaces wrap around, giving views out to the gardens and picnickers. The opera house’s Hampshire red brick resonate foyer with the adjacent neo-Elizabethan house.

 

Galleries and ground floor arcades at the auditorium end of the building served as additional open air foyer spaces. Housed in a double-skinned circular drum with a shallow conical roof, the auditorium took the traditional European opera house form, with a gently raked bank of stalls and 3 horseshoe-shaped balconies. Lined in reclaimed pitch pine, its form was finely tuned to the required acoustics, with balcony fronts specially curved to reflect the stage sounds. The result was an intimate and clear ambience.

Theatrical producer John Christie added a magnificent organ room containing large non-cathedral organs. Christie held regular amateur musical evenings there, soon enhanced with professional musicians. In 1931 John met Canadian soprano Audrey Mildmay, fell in love and married some months later. On their honeymoon, the two opera fans visited Salzburg and Bayreuth festivals, planning how they might create a similar event in England.

The first opera performed at Glyndebourne in May 1934 was Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro. Audience reaction was so positive that they soon outgrew that first, modest theatre. Remodelled, the capacity rose to 850. Today it’s the home of Gus Christie who moved into the house in 2002 and married soprano Danielle de Niese in 2009. The 70 singers and their families mostly stayed in the house, and plus people all around the place who were rehearsing. In 1994 the new auditorium opened for 1,250 people.

The 2025 Glyndebourne summer season ran for 15 weeks, offering 70+ concerts of operas including Parsifal, plus revivals of Handel’s Saul, Rossini’s Barber of Seville, Verdi’s Falstaff and Janácek’s Katya Kabanova. And the Marriage of Figaro, the most-loved and performed opera!

Those planning to picnic first hastened to claim their favourite spot, spreading out blankets. Some brought tables and gourmet hampers. Other people strolled through the grounds pre the music. Then the excited buzz rose as people slowly made their way to the auditorium. The curtain fell after the first act, with time to return to the well placed rugs and food baskets. Plus there were several on-site restaurants offering fine dining. The British climate being unreliable, there were large, covered balconies around the opera house in case of rain, or undercover picnic tables. NB the smart dress code doesn’t change, even in bad weather.

The 12 acres of Glyndebourne’s gardens have been perfectly cared for by a team. The gardens range vastly in style, from the striking sunken Bourne Garden, filled with exotic plants reflecting the marvels inside the opera house, and wild flower meadows and rolling lawns around the orchard. This area was a calm space to escape from the bold energy of the rest of the garden. The Figaro Garden was enclosed by tall yew hedges with benches that overlooked a pool, next to Henry Moore’s sculpture. The formal Urn Garden had scented flowers and tall yew hedges loaded with fragrance. On summer nights, the air had a heady perfume, while the area around Mildmay Restaurant was also fragrant.

Glyndebourne Opera House

Galleries and ground floor arcades inside the opera house

Performance of The Barber of Seville

Opera Today

The autumn season was more relaxed than summer. Many people experienced the opera for the first time! It was via these informal productions which, beside high-quality full operas, included revivals of Puccini’s La Bohème and Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Aiming to develop tomorrow’s stars, these productions showcased new artists hoping for global careers. Glyndebourne also had new audiences, including family open days, archive exhibitions, school trips and an extensive touring schedule.

Glyndebourne is now a fine and celebrated opera houses, offering performances to c150,000 people across a Summer Festival and an Autumn Tour. Thanks to Opera Today for photos of performances.