Summer isn’t complete without at least one trip to Glyndebourne, and as the nights draw in now, what could be more heartening than news of 2021's year’s full season?
At 10am on Sunday 18 July, tickets will be available online and by phone (01273 815000). Click here to create a log-on.
Verdi’s Luisa Miller (1-2 Aug) tops the bill on the Culture Whisper list of recommendations for Glyndebourne Festival Opera 2021. This stupendous opera, with its thrilling arias and overwhelming choruses, was superbly sung by English National Opera just before lockdown.
The first ever Glyndebourne production is directed by Christof Loy, and with the dynamic Russian soprano Kristina Mkhitaryan in the title role, this Luisa Miller promises to be a musical landmark. American tenor Charles Castronovo and Italian tenor Ivan Magri both make their house debuts, sharing the role of Luisa’s lover Rodolfo.
Kat'a Kabanova opened Glyndebourne 2021 this year to a socially-distanced house. Now full audiences will be admitted
The LPO returns for one of the three revivals, Nikolaus Lehnhoff’s stirring production of Wagner’s epic love story Tristan and Isolde, first seen in 2003 (13 Aug to 28 Aug).
Another Mozart opera completes the line-up for 2021. Nicholas Hytner’s lucid production of Così Fan Tutte returns (to 27 Aug), again with the inestimable OAE, under early music wizard Riccardo Minasi. Something of a fixture at Glyndebourne since its first outing in 2006, the comedy with a sting features four appropriately youthful singers as the pairs of lovers who swop partners.
Operas that have already made their mark this season are Janacek's Kat'a Kabanova and Rossini's Il Turco in Italia.
Listen out too for the concert series featuring Glyndebourne's resident orchestras, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
Operas are sung in the original language, with surtitles in Engish. Glyndebourne Festival 2021 runs until Sun 29 Aug, with full houses from Monday 19 July, current Covid-19 restrictions permitting
| What | Glyndebourne Festival Opera 2021: now with full houses |
| Where | Glyndebourne, Lewes, East Sussex, BN8 5UU | MAP |
| Nearest tube | Victoria (underground) |
| When |
20 May 21 – 29 Aug 21, six productions, with performances most evenings and long dinner interval. Start and running times vary |
| Price | £40-£260 |
| Website | Click here for more information and booking |
