Billy Budd

A brief introduction:

When innocent young sailor Billy Budd is conscripted into the British Navy he soon wins the love and respect of all on board – all except Master-at-Arms Claggart. A false accusation leads to violence, setting in motion a tragic sequence of events.

Salvation and damnation, innocence and corruption, love and hatred and a beautiful boy all collide in Benjamin Britten’s Billy Budd – a gripping psychological study of good, evil and the many human shades of grey that fall between.

Britten’s fourth opera returns both to the sea and the grand scale the composer first explored in Peter Grimes. Based on a novella by Herman Melville, with a libretto co-written by EM Forster, Britten’s opera brings together three great storytellers in a modern-day morality play that offers no easily resolutions.

Billy Budd, Festival 2010. Photo: Alastair Muir

Why not to miss it:

Award-winning director Michael Grandage’s debut opera staging premiered at Glyndebourne in 2010 to triumphant, five-star reviews. The show has since travelled to America, but this is the first chance to see this “stupendous” production (The Telegraph) back on stage at the Festival for over a decade, with tenor Allan Clayton making a major role debut as Captain Vere.

Grandage and designer Christopher Oram invite the audience down into the claustrophobic wooden belly of the HMS Indomitable, where you can smell the sweat and feel the fear of a crew on the brink of mutiny during the Napoleonic Wars.

In this short video, Michael Grandage (director) and Christopher Oram (set designer) discuss staging Billy Budd at Glyndebourne:

A great moment to look out for:

Billy’s Act I aria “Billy Budd, king of the birds!” is our first real musical introduction to our hero: young, athletic, impetuous and joyful. In contrast to the often more contained music of the other characters – trapped like the men within a confined space – Billy here leaps and soars right across his range a thrilling celebration of youth and life.

The lyrical central theme “Farewell O Rights O’ Man” epitomises Billy’s energy and joy. Underneath the soaring melody the orchestra’s strings and woodwind (in turn) pulse and scurry, generating exciting momentum. There’s a brilliance and light to this aria that sets it apart in an opera defined by brooding musical fog and darkness.

Cast and creative team:

Michael Grandage’s production is back at the Festival for the first time since 2013. This second revival is conducted by Australian rising-star Nicholas Carter, who recently conducted Peter Grimes to great success at the Metropolitan opera.

Billy Budd is built around a central triangle of men: Captain Vere, John Claggart and Billy Budd. All three are role debuts from familiar faces. Exceptional young Irish baritone Thomas Mole – a former Jerwood Artist and John Christie Award-winner – takes the title role. Tenor Allan Clayton debuts as Vere, with another former Jerwood Artist Sam Carl as Claggart.

Billy Budd, Festival 2010. Photo: Alastair Muir

To find out more about production support for Festival 2026 click here
or contact our Director of Development, Helen McCarthy for an informal chat:
call 01273 013 308 or email helen.mccarthy@glyndebourne.com