The Wreckers, composed by Ethel Smythe and premiered in 1906, is set in the rugged Cornish coastline from where cargo ships are lured to destruction by plundering local people. At the same time, the happiness of a love affair between Mark and Thirza founders on local prejudice and rivalries. The cast includes Lauren Fagan, this summer's Violetta in Opera Holland Park's La Traviata.
Forward-looking but rarely performed, The Wreckers (10 performances, 21 May-24 June) is to be directed by Melly Still, and is one of four new productions at Glyndebourne 2022. The festival also revives Donizetti's Don Pasquale (10 performances, 22 July-27 August), enjoyed on the Tour in 2011, and Michael Grandage's swinging Sixties Mozart comedy, Le Nozze de Figaro (16 performances, 22 May-16 July).
The other new productions include Puccini's La Bohème (18 performances, 11 June-14 August), with Chinese tenor Long Long as penniless Parisian poet Rodolfo and Chilean soprano Yaritza Vélis as the seamstress Mimì, with whom he falls in love. South African soprano Vuvu Mpofu is cheeky Musetta.
Michael Grandage's stylish production of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro returns to Glyndebourne in 2022. Photo: Alastair Muir
Also new is Francesco Micheli's production, originally scheduled for 2020, of Handel's colourful Alcina (14 performances, 14 July to 24 August). The cast includes Canadian soprano Jane Archibald in the title role, and Chinese soprano Ying Fang as the mysterious Morgana.
An exciting double bill of 20th-century work by Francis Poulenc features the much admired soprano Stéphanie d'Oustrac as Elle in La Voix Humaine. She sings the role of a woman on the phone, whose one-sided conversation reveals more than it seems. The opera is sung with the surreal Les Mamelles de Tirésias, with French soprano Elsa Benoît as Thérèse (10 performances, 6-28 August).
If you can't wait until 2022, tickets or returns are still available for this year's festival. And many fine archive productions can be viewed online here.
Operas are sung in the original language, with English surtitles. Public booking is open
| What | Glyndebourne Festival Opera 2022: dates and artists |
| Where | Glyndebourne, Lewes, East Sussex, BN8 5UU | MAP |
| Nearest tube | Victoria (underground) |
| When |
21 May 22 – 28 Aug 22, Six productions with performances most days, including long dinner interval. Start times vary |
| Price | £20-£270 |
| Website | Click here for more information and booking |
