Stephen Langridge introduces Festival 2020

A day at Glyndebourne offers the antidote: a few hours at a slower pace, with time for the beauty of the gardens, good food, and at the heart of it all, inspiring, world class opera. And breathe. 2020 brings a Festival of contrasts – hilarious, tragic, political, mythic – great works of art separated by over two centuries, but all able to speak directly to us across the years, and to stir our contemporary imaginations. If you come several times to see different operas, you will also experience the gardens changing – lovingly tended by our green-fingered experts: our ‘seventh’ production, a very organic opera!

Glyndebourne’s bucolic setting is classically English, and opera is an outward- looking, pan-European art form. We see no conflict there, and we are proud to present performers from all over the world who bring their diverse sensibilities and voices to works by Russian, American, English, German, Austrian, French and Italian artists, in operas which explore big, universal themes – power, faith, freedom, courage – and, above all, celebrate the human capacity for love. We are enormously grateful to our Members for their engagement and support, and look forward to welcoming you, whether you are a seasoned regular or if it is your first operatic experience. Welcome to the opera oasis. Welcome to Glyndebourne.