Glyndebourne opera festival might be elitist – but it’s also more community minded than you think

A man in a bow tie is unpacking items from a small trolley. To the table set up on the manicured, now yellowing lawn he adds a white tablecloth and silver cutlery. His equally well-attired picnickers serve a sumptuous feast; around him, encircled by sculptures, similar formal tableware is arranged. Diners have brought flower arrangements: wicker baskets feature the unmistakeable ‘F&M’ monogram; one blanket even boasts a candelabra. 

We are down a rabbit hole headed towards a nostalgic, English ideal of luxury and artistry. Glyndebourne is the pinnacle of country house opera, having burnished its stagings since 1934 when John Christie and Audrey Mildmay first opened up their Sussex pile. Today, world-class productions take place in a 1,200 seat opera house that opened in 1994.

The summer season is the high point in the calendar, with attendees at the 70 performances encouraged to enjoy the exquisite grounds during the extended interval. “Do walk around the lake,” urges a friendly fellow visitor, adding, with perfectly British eccentricity, “and make sure you go anti-clockwise.”

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There are many jokes about Glyndebourne. It is said that conversation must battle the popping of champagne corks (it’s the only venue I know that offers cork recycling). Summer festival stalls tickets cost around £200. These are comparable to the Royal Opera House, but the picnic element at Glyndebourne creates an Eton mess mix not experienced at Covent Garden, where you can quietly read the programme without being exposed to comparisons between meals, outfits, schools and other byways for social status.

Various copycat country house opera festivals have emerged both in the UK and abroad (a colleague once referred to “the Glyndebourne of Bulgaria”). Some (such as Garsington in Buckinghamshire) are community minded and warm hearted; others are prissy, bogged down in dress codes (black tie is ubiquitous but not compulsory at Glyndebourne) and insularity.

There is a performative aspect to attendance, with role-playing both on and off stage. Paradoxically, the mother ship is relaxed: with one of the best permanent stages in the UK and a thriving organisation, it cares more about pushing artistic boundaries. The revival of the 2009 Falstaff I recently saw set Verdi’s final masterpiece in postwar rural England. The singing was sensational and the set spectacular.

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Unlike tickets to, say, Oasis (“I’m paying £361 to stand in my local park,” wrote Josh Halliday in The Guardian, having spent that tidy sum to attend the Manchester gig), Glyndebourne’s summer season isn’t lining celebrity pockets. The fact Glyndebourne is a registered charity is much overlooked. The picnic-opera parties subsidise events throughout the year, as well as the summer festival £30 tickets for under 30s).

When Arts Council England cut support to Glyndebourne’s autumn tour – an initiative started in 1968 that took opera to places including Liverpool, Norwich and Milton Keynes – the organisation rebooted its autumn programme at home in Lewes. 

This year’s autumn season (11 October-14 December) includes Puccini’s La bohème, Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and a brand-new operatic reimagining of The Railway Children by Mark-Anthony Turnage. Tickets start at £10, with 50% off full-price tickets (any performance), for concessions. 

“We keep prices as low as we can to entice people to give it a try,” says Stephen Langridge, Glyndebourne’s artistic director. “Opera isn’t just about entertainment; cultural engagement is a human right.” It may be too damp for champagne and strawberries (autumn visits are more “beer and pretzels” says Langridge), but there’s always time for a walk around the lake… anti-clockwise. 

Glyndebourne Festival 2026 will run 21 May-30 August.

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