Festival 2024 announcement
We reveal the lineup for our 90th anniversary season
Among the world class opera drawing a bumper audience to the event was a critically-acclaimed new production of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites by the visionary director Barrie Kosky, and five star revivals of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress.
Other notable figures include:
- Over 90,000 tickets sold for Glyndebourne Festival 2023
- Over 3,000 tickets purchased through Glyndebourne’s Under 30s and Under 40s schemes
- 6,500 tickets sold to international visitors from 52 different countries – an 18% increase on 2022 indicating the return of international audiences following the pandemic
- 2,500 people made their first Glyndebourne Festival ticket purchase in 2023
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Richard Davidson-Houston, managing director of Glyndebourne, said: ‘Audiences flocked back to Glyndebourne this summer to support the art form they love. We have sold more tickets for the Festival this year than we did in 2019, exceeding our expectations as to how quickly audiences might recover following the pandemic. We even added extra performances to the schedule for the first time ever to meet demand. The additional sales this year are a welcome boost as we continue to rebuild our finances.’
As the 2023 Festival draws to a close, Glyndebourne has today announced the programme for 2024, when the company marks its 90th anniversary year.
Stephen Langridge, artistic director of Glyndebourne, said: ‘Since 1934, Glyndebourne has built its success on a commitment to the highest artistic standards. By offering long and detailed rehearsal periods our artists can undertake highly focused ensemble work to create truly exceptional opera. Our unique working environment is a huge draw and, coupled with our keen eye for talent, has seen Glyndebourne play a key role in launching the careers of leading artists including Janet Baker, Thomas Allen, Felicity Lott, Jakub Hrůša, Edward Gardner, Robin Ticciati, Gerald Finley and Allan Clayton. Ninety years on, we continue to be guided by the same principles, as can be seen in our plans for next summer’s anniversary season.’
Festival 2024
The 2024 Glyndebourne Festival will open with a deeply human new production of Bizet’s Carmen, directed by Diane Paulus, a giant of American theatre, making her Glyndebourne debut. Featuring choreography by Jasmin Vardimon, the opera will have 21 performances taking place across the summer – 11 at the start of the season (opening 16 May), and a further 10 in August.
The initial performance run will be conducted by Glyndebourne’s Music Director Robin Ticciati with German conductor Anja Bihlmaier taking over in August, making her Glyndebourne debut. Casting for the first performance run sees mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb in the role of Carmen and tenor Dmytro Popov as Don José. In August, those roles will be performed by Aigul Akhmetshina and Evan LeRoy Johnson.
The second new production of the season will be Franz Lehár’s operetta The Merry Widow, a work that has never been fully staged at Glyndebourne before. Presented in a new English-language version by Stephen Plaice and Marcia Bellamy, it will be directed by the award-winning comedy director Cal McCrystal and conducted by John Wilson. Among the cast is Danielle de Niese as Hanna Glawari, Germán Olvera as Count Danilo, Thomas Allen as Baron Mirko Zeta and Soraya Mafi as Valencienne.
The 2024 season also features revivals of three popular Glyndebourne productions, including David McVicar’s groundbreaking staging of Handel’s most popular opera, Giulio Cesare. Premiered in 2005, the production was an immediate hit, winning praise for its witty fusion of imperial history, Bollywood and political psychodrama. Laurence Cummings will conduct the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and a cast that includes countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen in the title role and soprano Louise Alder as Cleopatra.
Also returning to the Festival is Barbe & Doucet’s playful reimagining of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. Premiered in 2019, the dazzling production features hand-drawn illustrations and elaborate puppetry that showcases the extraordinary levels of craftsmanship at Glyndebourne. The revival will be conducted by Constantin Trinks leading the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and a cast that includes tenor Paul Appleby as Tamino, soprano Lauren Snouffer as Pamina, soprano Aleksandra Olczyk as Queen of the Night and baritone Rodion Pogossov as Papageno.
Completing the Festival lineup is a revival of Nikolaus Lehnhoff’s 2003 production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. In its first full theatrical staging at Glyndebourne since 2009, the opera will be conducted by Robin Ticciati and features some of the world’s leading Wagnerian singers, including tenor Stuart Skelton and soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä in the title roles and bass baritone Shenyang as Kurwenal.
Away from the stage, visitors to the Festival can enjoy an exhibition of new work by leading British artist Conrad Shawcross RA. The works will be on view across Glyndebourne’s gardens and gallery spaces, featuring large-scale sculptures in a never before seen field array, small-scale sculptures and drawings that explore the connections between materiality, maths and music.
Georges Bizet – Carmen
Twenty-one performances split across two performance runs with 11 performances between 16 May – 17 June 2024 and 10 performances between 1 – 24 August 2024
- A new production for the 2024 Festival directed by Diane Paulus
- Robin Ticciati conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra for the first 11 performances with German conductor Anja Bihlmaier leading the August performances
- Casting for the first performance run features mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb as Carmen and Dmytro Popov as Don José. For the August performances those roles will be performed by Aigul Akhmetshina and Evan LeRoy Johnson.
Franz Lehár – The Merry Widow
Seventeen performances between 9 June – 28 July 2024
- A new production for the 2024 Festival directed by Cal McCrystal
- John Wilson conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra
- Danielle de Niese stars as Hanna Glawari alongside Germán Olvera as Count Danilo, Thomas Allen as Baron Mirko Zeta and Soraya Mafi as Valencienne
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Die Zauberflöte
Sixteen performances between 18 May – 21 July 2024
- A revival of Barbe & Doucet’s Glyndebourne Festival 2019 production
- Constantin Trinks conducts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
- Cast includes Paul Appleby as Tamino, Lauren Snouffer as Pamina, Aleksandra Olczyk as Queen of the Night and Rodion Pogossov as Papageno
George Frideric Handel – Giulio Cesare
Fourteen performances between 23 June – 23 August 2024
- A revival of David McVicar’s 2005 Festival production
- Laurence Cummings conducts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
- Cast includes Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen in the title role and Louise Alder as Cleopatra
Richard Wagner – Tristan und Isolde
Seven performances between 2 – 25 August 2024
- A revival of Nikolaus Lehnhoff’’s Glyndebourne Festival 2003 production
- Robin Ticciati conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra
- Cast includes tenor Stuart Skelton as Tristan, soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä as Isolde and bass baritone Shenyang as Kurwenal
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