If music be the food of love

The summer opera season of picnics and Puccini is upon us. Henrietta Bredin advises how best to enjoy this year’s offerings

- Henrietta Bredin

SUMMER used to be a fairly quiet time in the British opera world, with the big companies—English National Opera, the Royal Opera, Opera North, Scottish Opera, Welsh National Opera—taking a break or going on tour. These days, there is a proliferation of summer festivals, which is good news for those keen to experience opera in different, often more relaxed venues and also for performers, who lead an increasingly precarious existence with so much prevailing uncertainty about funding for the Arts.

I am caught on the hop every year by early-starter Glyndebourne in East Sussex, which kicks off the season in the middle of this month with Don Giovanni. It has already proved such a hot ticket that an extra performance has been added. Quick thinking and an imaginative, positive response to financial challenges are proving to be the hallmarks of Stephen Langridge’s artistic directorship. Funding cuts have meant that the 2023 Glyndebourne Tour has had to be cancelled (Town & Country, March 1), a blow for audiences and performers. Despite huge regrets at not being able to take operas to Norwich, Milton Keynes, Canterbury and Liverpool, with considerably cheaper ticket prices than the festival, Glyndebourne is now offering an autumn programme of operas, masterclasses and concerts. Tickets will be at lower prices and start time 7.30pm, with a short interval rather than a long supper break.