Glyndebourne is launching Glyndebourne Encore, a new online streaming service that will give viewers on-demand access to its back catalogue of world-class opera, as well as all future filmed productions, the Sussex-based opera house has announced.
Glyndebourne Encore is set to launch on 1 December and will be accessible via computers, smartphones, tablets, Amazon Fire TV and Roka. A yearly subscription will cost £79.99, with Glyndebourne members receiving a £20 discount
Additionally, each month Glyndebourne’s performers and creative staff will delve more deeply into a featured opera, offering personal insights and interviews to enable viewers to get more out of each production. December kicks things off with a look at Barrie Kosky’s sensational staging of Saul, Handel’s 1738 oratorio telling the story of the first king of Israel’s relationship with his eventual successor, David.
Glyndebourne has been filming its operas since 2002 and has built up an extensive collection of recorded productions. This allowed the Sussex-based opera house to run a ‘virtual festival’ in 2020 in place of that year’s Glyndebourne Festival, which was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
A selection of previously recorded operas were broadcast for free via Glyndebourne’s YouTube channel. The screenings proved to be very popular, together attracting more than 850,000 views. This has inspired Glyndebourne to create a platform that can offer year-round online access to its operas. The company will also continue to offer regular, limited-time streams for free as part of its efforts to make its work accessible to a broad audience.
“Twenty years ago Glyndebourne made the farsighted decision to take control of its own destiny by investing in filming its productions,” Sarah Hopwood, managing director of Glyndebourne, commented.
“The collection of recordings that we have built since then is a fantastic asset that helps us reach new audiences, give wider exposure to our artists and generate new income. Subscriptions to Glyndebourne Encore will help us maintain our status as a financially independent charity and will be reinvested in filming future productions so that audiences can continue to enjoy the latest Glyndebourne operas well into the future.”
A total of 15 of the opera house’s most well-known productions will be available to stream on demand at Glyndebourne Encore’s launch. These include Billy Budd (1951, Britten), the award-winning opera debut from British theatre director Michael Grandage, and David McVicar’s all-singing, all-dancing version of Handel’s Giulio Cesare (Julius Caesar, 1724).
A selection of some of Mozart’s greatest hits will also be accessible: Nicholas Hytner’s classic staging of Così fan tutte (Women are Like That, 1790), Barbe & Doucet’s take on Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute, 1791), Grandage’s five-star production of Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro, 1786), Don Giovanni (1787) and La clemenza di Tito (The Clemency of Titus, 1791).
More productions from Glyndebourne’s extensive back catalogue will be added over time. New films of future productions are also part of the service. These will include all four of the upcoming new productions at Glyndebourne Festival 2022: Ethyl Smyth’s The Wreckers (1906), Handel’s Alcina (1735), Puccini’s La bohème (The Bohemians, 1896) and a Poulenc double bill comprising La voix humaine (The Human Voice, 1959) and Les mamelles de Tirésias (The Breasts of Tiresias, 1947).
Subscribers to Glyndebourne Encore will also be able to listen to a selection of audio recordings. At launch, these will include a 1996 recording of Handel’s oratorio Theodora (1750), Peter Grimes (1945, Britten) from 2000, and 2007’s The Turn of the Screw (1954, Britten), as well as a 1964 production of Idomeneo (1781, Mozart) featuring a young Pavarotti.
Glyndebourne Artistic Director Stephen Langridge said: “Last summer’s digital festival highlighted the huge appetite for Glyndebourne opera all around the world. Glyndebourne Encore is a response to that audience demand and will offer the chance to watch our productions in full whenever you choose. But that’s not all. Every month we’ll be delving deep into an individual opera to offer revealing insights and interviews to help people get the most out of every opera.”
Click here for more information on Glyndebourne Encore and to register your interest.
Image
Sussex-based opera house Glyndebourne is set to launch Glyndebourne Encore, a new on-demand streaming service giving unlimited access to all its filmed operas.