Glyndebourne unveils programme for 2024

The announcement comes as the venue celebrates a bumper 2023 season with 97 per cent of seats filled at Glyndebourne Festival 2023, with more than 90,000 tickets sold,

Stephen Langridge, artistic director of Glyndebourne, said: “Since 1934, Glyndebourne has built its success on a commitment to the highest artistic standards. By offering long and detailed rehearsal periods our artists can undertake highly focused ensemble work to create truly exceptional opera. Our unique working environment is a huge draw and, coupled with our keen eye for talent, has seen Glyndebourne play a key role in launching the careers of leading artists including Janet Baker, Thomas Allen, Felicity Lott, Jakub Hrůša, Edward Gardner, Robin Ticciati, Gerald Finley and Allan Clayton. Ninety years on, we continue to be guided by the same principles, as can be seen in our plans for next summer’s anniversary season.

“The 2024 Glyndebourne Festival will open with a deeply human new production of Bizet’s Carmen, directed by Diane Paulus, a giant of American theatre, making her UK opera directorial debut. Featuring choreography by Jasmin Vardimon, the opera will have 21 performances taking place across the summer – 11 at the start of the season (opening May 16), and a further ten in August.

“The initial performance run will be conducted by Glyndebourne’s music director Robin Ticciati with German conductor Anja Bihlmaier taking over in August, making her Glyndebourne debut. Casting for the first performance run sees mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb in the role of Carmen and tenor Dmytro Popov as Don José. In August, those roles will be performed by Aigul Akhmetshina and Evan LeRoy Johnson.

“The second new production of the season will be Franz Lehár’s operetta The Merry Widow, a work that has never been fully staged at Glyndebourne before. Presented in a new English-language version by Stephen Plaice and Marcia Bellamy, it will be directed by the award-winning comedy director Cal McCrystal and conducted by John Wilson. Among the cast is Danielle de Niese as Hanna Glawari, Germán Olvera as Count Danilo, Thomas Allen as Baron Mirko Zeta and Soraya Mafi as Valencienne.

“The 2024 season also features revivals of three popular Glyndebourne productions, including David McVicar’s groundbreaking staging of Handel’s most popular opera, Giulio Cesare. Premiered in 2005, the production was an immediate hit, winning praise for its witty fusion of imperial history, Bollywood and political psychodrama. Laurence Cummings will conduct the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and a cast that includes countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen in the title role and soprano Louise Alder as Cleopatra. Also returning to the Festival is Barbe & Doucet’s playful reimagining of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. Premiered in 2019, the dazzling production features hand-drawn illustrations and elaborate puppetry that showcases the extraordinary levels of craftsmanship at Glyndebourne. The revival will be conducted by Constantin Trinks leading the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and a cast that includes tenor Paul Appleby as Tamino, soprano Lauren Snouffer as Pamina, soprano Aleksandra Olczyk as Queen of the Night and baritone Rodion Pogossov as Papageno. Completing the Festival line-up is a revival of Nikolaus Lehnhoff’s 2003 production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. In its first full theatrical staging at Glyndebourne since 2009, the opera will be conducted by Robin Ticciati and features some of the world’s leading Wagnerian singers, including tenor Stuart Skelton and soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä in the title roles and bass baritone Shenyang as Kurwenal.”

Away from the stage, visitors can enjoy an exhibition of new work by leading British artist Conrad Shawcross. The works will be on view across Glyndebourne's gardens and gallery spaces.