St Matthew Passion

At St Thomas’s, Leipzig, on Good Friday 1727, the two halves of Bach’s St Matthew Passion were separated by an improving Lutheran sermon. At Glyndebourne in 2007, they come either side of a boozy picnic. Perhaps that is part of … Continue reading →

La Cenerentola

Peter Hall’s questionable production of La Cenerentola was greeted with everything from adulation to anger when it opened two years ago. Aware that Rossini’s comedy is essentially a rationalist take on the Cinderella story, Hall aimed to refashion it as … Continue reading →

Macbeth

Richard Jones has confessed that when it comes to directing Verdi, there are only some of the operas he feels he can tackle. One of those is Macbeth, and his new production, which opens the Glyndebourne season, shows him at … Continue reading →

Mirth on the Nile

Classical: An all-singing, all-dancing Cleopatra enthralls Glyndbourne, while the Proms go minimal, says George Hall.

Giulio Cesare

New last summer, David McVicar’s irrepressibly camp staging of Handel’s Egyptian epic was Glyndebourne’s biggest success for years, and it’s no surprise that the company has brought it back as soon as possible. McVicar has supervised the revival, with a … Continue reading →

Fidelio

Deborah Warner’s revival of her own production of Beethoven’s Fidelio at Glyndebourne is a triumph. Conducted by Mark Elder, it boasts an outstanding cast, and is propelled by the energy of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in the pit. But this … Continue reading →

Stalin steals the show

Opera: Mazepa, Millennium Centre, Cardiff | Cosi fan tutte, Glyndebourne, East Sussex