With Glyndebourne fast approaching, Tatler’s June issue focuses on the chatelaine of the estate, whose remarkable career has seen her called ‘the Beyoncé of opera’. These are her five most significant moments on stage
Péter Eötvös, who has died aged 80, was a Hungarian conductor and composer whose opera Love and Other Demons, based on Gabriel Gárcia Márquez’s novel, received its premiere at Glyndebourne in 2008; it was not his first experience of the Sussex opera house, having conducted the legendary Anja Silja there in Janacek’s The Makropulos Case in 2001.
of the opera calendar. the quality of the music isjust phenomenal. i love the setting and the fact that you can sit out here and sort of dress up and drink champagne. a day of coming together and enjoying not only world class opera, but also just being in this lovely setting in the countryside. for nearly a century, glyndebourne has been proving how opera can be enjoyed in a rural setting away from grand theatres in city centres. a lot of people find crossing the threshold of an opera house quite difficult because it does seem rather daunting. so to have opera in these amazing different spaces gives you a lot more flexibility as to how you engage and experience with things. glyndebourne grew out of a family passion. the first summer festival in 193a was the brainchild of local landownerjohn christie
they make great efforts to open up their casting process to a wide range of great artists who happen to be of colour or any kind of mixed race background. glyndebourne runs an annual mentorship programme with pegasus. the artistic director of pegasus is soprano alison buchanan, the only black woman to hold such a post at an opera company in the uk. the glyndebourne pegasus mentorship scheme is a wonderful thing because pegasus 0pera advocates for and represents singers of colour who don t get opportunities in this opera industry.