History
Under the supervision of the Christie family, the festival has been held annually since 1934, except in 1941-45 during World War II and 1993 when the theatre was being rebuilt. The renovated theatre opened in 1994. Gus Christie, son of Sir George Christie and grandson of festival founder John Christie, became festival chairman in 2000.
Since the company's inception, Glyndebourne Opera is particularly celebrated for its productions of Mozart operas. Recordings of Glyndebourne's past historic Mozart productions have been reissued. Other notable productions included their 1980s production of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, directed by Trevor Nunn, and later expanded from the Glyndebourne stage and videotaped in 1993 for television, with Nunn again directing. Mozart operas have continued to be the mainstay of its repertory, but the company has expanded its repertoire with productions of Janáček and Handel operas.
The primary resident orchestra for the Glyndebourne Festival is the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The festival's associate orchestra is the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Since January 2001, the festival's music director is Vladimir Jurowski. Jurowski is scheduled to step down from the post after the 2013 season. In July 2011, the festival announced Robin Ticciati as its seventh music director, as of January 2014.
David Pickard is the current general director of the festival. The festival operates without subsidy. Its first placement of advertisements was in 2003. The festival has planned to incorporate power by wind turbine, as part of its "green" initiatives.
Many Glyndebourne attendees come from London, and Glyndebourne is regarded as part of the London/English summer season. Performances start in the afternoon, enabling Londoners to leave town after lunch, and finish in time for them to catch the last train back. A long interval allows opera-goers the opportunity for picnic dinners on the extensive lawns or in one of the restaurants in the grounds. Annually in London, the company presents an opera performance at The Proms.
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