Glyndebourne's 80th anniversary

2014 is Glyndebourne Festival's 80th anniversary. The festival was founded in 1934 and will be celebrating with Robin Ticciati conducting his first Glyndebourne Festival as Music Director. The festival opens with a new production of Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier and other new productions are Mozart's La finta giardiniera and Verdi's La Traviata. Alongside these will be revivals of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Mozart's Don Giovanni and Handel's Rinaldo. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment will have a busy summer, performing in the Mozart and Handel operas with the London Philharmonic Orchestra playing for the remainder.

Der Rosenkavalier will be conducted by Robin Ticciati, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and directed by Richard Jones with Kate Royal and Tara Erraught making their role debuts as the Marschallin and Octavian respectively, and Teogora Gheorghiu making her Glyndebourne debut as Sophie. Royal started her Glyndebourne career in the chorus in 2004, Gheorghiu played the Sandman in the 2010 Festival production of Hansel und Gretel.

Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke as the Witch in Hansel und Gretel at Glyndebourne

Frederic Wake-Walker will be directing the Glyndebourne Festival's first ever production of Mozart's early comic opera La finta giardiniera, premiered in 1775 when Mozart was just 19. Robin Ticciati will be conducting the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment with a cast including Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke, Christiane Karg and Gyula Ordent.  Ablinger-Sperrhacke's roles at Glyndebourne have included the Dancing Master in the 2013 production of Ariadne auf Naxos and the Witch in Hansel und Gretel. Wake-Walker directed the 2009 Glyndebourne production of Julian Philips The Yellow Sofa.

Verdi's La Traviata returns to the festival for the first time since 1988. The new production will be conducted by Sir Mark Elder, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and directed by Tom Cairns. Russian soprano Venera Gimadieva makes her Glyndebourne debut as Violetta and American tenor Michael Fabiano make his Glyndebourne debut as Alfredo. Tom Cairns first worked at Glyndebourne in 1994, when he directed Harrison Birtwistle's The Second Mrs Kong.

Graham Vick's 1994 Festival production of Eugene Onegin will be conducted by Omer Meir Wellber, making his Glyndebourne debut, with Andrei Bondarenko in the title role and Ekaterina Scherbachenko as tatyana. Bondarenko was the winner of the 2011 Cardiff Singer of the World, both he and Scherbachenko made their Glyndebourne debuts in the 2012 Festival production of La boheme.

Jonathan Kent's 2011 Festival production will be conducted by Andres Orozco-Estrada, making his Glyndebourne debut, with Canadian baritone Elliot Madore  in the title role and Canadian soprano Layla Claire as Donna Anna. Madore made his festival and UK debut in 2012 in Ravel's L'heure espagnole and Claire made her Glyndebourne debut as the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro on the 2012 Glyndebourne Tour.

Robert Carsen's 2011 Festival production of Handel's Rinaldo will be conducted by Ottavio Dantone, with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. The cast includes a remarkable four counter-tenors. Iestyn Davies sings the title role, with Tim Mead as Goffredo, American counter-tenor Anthony Roth Costanzo as Goffredo and James Laing as the Magician. Canadian baritone Joshua Hopkins sings Argante. Davies sang Ottone in L'incoronazione di Poppea at the 2008 festival, whilst Mead sang the role of Eustazio in the 2011 production of Rinaldo. Costanzo will be making his Glyndebourne debut. Hopkins sang the Count in the 2013 Festival production of Le nozze di Figaro.

The 2014 festival runs from 17 May to 25 August 2014, further information from the Glyndebourne website.

Elsewhere on this blog:

• Handel Furioso - Isle of Noise at the Grimeborn Festival
• Man on a Mission - talking Historically Informed Stagecraft with Dionysios Kyroploulos
• Vivid and involving - Katherine Broderick and Marcus Farnsworth at the North Norfolk Music Festival
• Fairytales for Accordion - CD review
• Pelleas et Melisande at the Grimeborn Festival
• Motets pour la Maison de Guise - CD review
• St Lawrence Jewry August Music Festival
• Janet Baker 80th birthday tribute
• Vivienne - a second view
• The Romantic Cello - Philip Handy - CD review
• Tete a Tete:the Opera Festival - a third helping
• Home