Glyndebourne is set to open up its gardens for a limited summer season, the Sussex-based opera house has announced.
Glyndebourne’s grounds opened to the public on 1 July for Open Gardens, allowing visitors to explore the estate’s beautiful outdoor spaces. Measures to ensure visitors’ and staff safety include timed entry and limited capacity, with the opera house asking all visitors to arrive promptly and follow social-distancing guidelines. Once inside, you can stay as long as you like.
In the gardens you can take a leisurely stroll around the lake, enjoy the flowers, or even indulge in a takeaway afternoon tea, perhaps with a glass of Pimms or champagne. Tickets must be booked in advance and cost £10 each. The Ha Ha Afternoon Tea is £20 per person.
Music returns to Glyndebourne from 21 July. The gardens will host a series of short outdoor opera performances and less formal concerts. The organisers assure visitors that there will “be a dedicated area for your household and measures in place to ensure that everyone can enjoy live, world-class music together in safety”.
The garden concerts will feature music from Mozart’s Don Giovanni (1787), as well as Jonathan Dove’s Figures in the Garden (1991) and Beethoven’s Octet in E flat major op 103 (1834).
Opera will also take place in the grounds, with performances starting from 12 August. Part one is a musical journey spanning six centuries, with works by Gabrieli, Wagner and Mahler. After a 90-minute interval, the second part heads to the markets of Paris for Jacques Offenbach’s one-act French farce Mesdames de la Halle (1858) in a new translation by Stephen Plaice entitled In the Market for Love.
Tickets cost £50 for the garden concerts and £100 for the opera performances. They are available from Glyndebourne’s website.
Image
Explore Glyndebourne’s extensive grounds this summer as part of Open Gardens.