Glyndebourne's 2027 Festival stages new productions of Janáček's Jenůfa, Rossini's La Cenerentola and Mozart's Idomeneo, each by a debut director.
The 2027 Festival opens at Glyndebourne, outside Lewes in East Sussex, on Thursday 20 May 2027 and runs to Sunday 29 August. It stages three new productions, each by a director making a Festival debut.
John Christie built an opera house onto his Sussex lawns in 1934. He had married a soprano, Audrey Mildmay, and wanted somewhere to hear her sing properly. He hired refugees from Nazi Germany to run it.
Nearly a century on, Glyndebourne keeps its founder’s habits. It takes no public subsidy, and black tie is a convention rather than a rule.
The curtain rises early to allow a ninety-minute dining interval, and many guests picnic on the lawn. The company gives young singers parts the international houses would not.
Its touring arm takes productions to towns with no opera house of their own. The Festival funds it.
Yael Farber directs Janáček’s Jenůfa. Max Webster arrives from the West End and Broadway for Rossini’s La Cenerentola, and Mozart’s Idomeneo goes to the house’s own artistic director.