Glyndebourne Opens for the 2012 Summer Festival

Still form La Cenerentola

Last weekend saw the opening of the 2012 Glyndebourne opera festival and DegreeArt was there to see the final Dress rehearsal for the fabulous La Cenerentola. This opera is the retelling of Cinderella, beautifully performed by the wonderful cast, a very moving performance with lots of emotional and heart-warming moments.

By the lake at Glyndebourne

Rossini’s music has an irrepressible quality, bubbling up effortlessly throughout this retelling of the story of Cinderella. The invention is unstoppable, from Cenerentola’s plaintive song about a king who loves a poor girl to the lavish coloratura of her final aria when goodness triumphs and all ends, for some at any rate, happily ever after.

When this production, directed by Peter Hall, was first seen in 2005, Opera magazine credited it as ‘thoughtful, fresh and full of insight’ whilst for The Telegraph it ‘met the Glyndebourne gold standard’.

The young American Elizabeth DeShong will sing the role of Cenerentola (Angelina) and Chinese baritone Shenyang, Cardiff Singer of the World in 2007, will make his Glyndebourne debut as Alidoro.

A revival of the 2005 Festival production Sung in Italian with English supertitles

Still form La Cenerentola

The grounds of Glyndebourne had naturally attracted visitors in their hundreds to come and picnic on the lawns and among the stunning life size and larger than life sculptures in the gardens.

People enjoying the good weather on the opening weekend at Glyndebourne

This year DegreeArt have been one of the main sculpture contributors to the garden showing work by artists Lucy Unwin and Carol Peace. The sculptures sit around the lake, on the croquet lawn and by the entrance to the shop and opera house.

Carol Peace's 'Possibly' £26,000

Lucy Unwin's 'Merriment' £8,000

More about Glyndebourne:

Glyndebourne Festival, which runs May to August each summer, produces and presents six productions in a 1,200-seat opera house which was built in 1994 and attached to the original building. Following the end of the Festival, Glyndebourne on Tour, founded in 1968, takes three productions around the UK each autumn. Together, Festival and Tour present close to 120 performances a year to an audience of 150,000. Glyndebourne’s widely respected Education program, established in 1986, hosts over 230 community and outreach events a year. And Glyndebourne has pioneered using recordings to bring its work to a worldwide audience through broadcasts, cinema screenings, DVDs and internet streaming. Crucially, Glyndebourne has remained financially independent since 1934.