Glyndebourne Festival Opera 2024

Two new productions and three revivals announced for Glyndebourne Festival Opera 2024 include a new Carmen, conductor John Wilson and director Cal McCrystal collaborating on The Merry Widow and, of course, Mozart.

Bizet’s Carmen opens the festival on 16 May 2024 with 11 performances in May and June, and 10 further performances in August. The Royal Opera rising star Aigul Akhmetshina will sing the mezzo-soprano title role in August, and that’s sure to be a hot ticket.

The season continues with a revival of Barbe & Doucet’s hotel-set production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, with coloratura soprano Aleksandra Olczyk as the Queen of the Night, enlisting mortal help to fetch back her daughter Pamina (16 performances, 18 May to 21 July).

Next to open is a new production by Cal McCrystal of Franz Lehár’s frothy comedy of the sexes, The Merry Widow. John Wilson, who has a special gift for lighter music, conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Danielle de Niese stars as feisty Hanna Glawari, with Germán Olvera as dashing Count Danilo, plus Sir Thomas Allen as Baron Mirko Zeta and soprano Soraya Mafi as Valencienne (17 performances, 9 June to 28 July).

Soprano Louise Alder is Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare

There will be more high spirits with the revival of David McVicar’s much-loved 2005 production of Handel’s Giulio Cesare. The romance between Cleopatra and Julius Caesar is given a stylish, all-singing, all-dancing Bollywood spin. Louise Alder sings (and dances) Cleopatra with US counter-tenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen in the title role. Expect to be hugely entertained. This show is about as far from a stuffy bit of ancient history as you can get.

Finally, seven performances of revival of Nikolaus Lehnhoff’s powerful 2003 production of Tristan and Isolde, with tenor Stuart Skelton as Tristan and soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä as Isolde in Wagner's tale of forbidden love (2 to 25 August).

Culture Whisper's top picks: Carmen with Aigul Akhmetshina, The Merry Widow and Giulio Cesare.

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Operas are sung in the original languages with English surtitles. Public booking opens 6PM, Sun 3 March 2024. Coaches meet the recommended train to Lewes from Waterloo station