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Glyndebourne, James Bellorini ©
Garsington & Glyndebourne - The Queen of Spades, Fidelio, Saul, Le nozze di Figaro
Tour highlights
- Four operas at two of England’s highest quality country-house opera festivals – Garsington & Glyndebourne.
- The Queen of Spades | Tchaikovsky at Garsington. Aaron Cawley, Laura Wilde, Diana Montague, Robert Hayward, Roderick Williams, Stephanie Wake-Edwards, Sam Furness, Simon Shibambu.
- Fidelio | Beethoven at Garsington. Robert Murray, Jane Archibald, Musa Ngqungwana, Jonathan Lemalu, Isabelle Peters, Oliver Johnston, Richard Burkhard.
- Saul | Handel at Glyndebourne. Christopher Purves, Iestyn Davies, Sarah Brady, Soraya Mafi, Linard Vrielink.
- Le nozze di Figaro | Mozart at Glyndebourne. Michael Nagl, Anna El-Khashem, Huw Montague Rendall, Louise Alder, Adèle Charvet, Alessandro Corbelli.
When landowner John Christie built a small opera house for his professional soprano wife in the rolling Sussex Downs, he unwittingly founded Country House Opera. The Glyndebourne Festival started there in 1934 with two Mozart operas, and since then its popularity has inexorably grown. Today, Glyndebourne epitomises the English summertime.
Several other venues have followed Glyndebourne’s example and Garsington has also established a sterling reputation for the world-class standard of its opera festival. Founded in 1989 by the owner of Garsington Manor, an estate near Oxford where the Bloomsbury Group often congregated during the 1920s, the Festival moved in 2011 to a purpose-built theatre at nearby Wormsley Park, the home of Mark Getty in Buckinghamshire. Late afternoon and evening light become part of the performance at this pavilion.
Accompanied by musicologist Dr John Allison, there are daily talks on all four operas.
Practicalities
Two sharing: £4,040. Single occupancy: £4,410.
Four opera tickets costing c.£980; opera festival programmes; private air-conditioned coach; hotel accommodation as described below; breakfasts, one lunch and all four dinners (including two picnic dinners) with wine, water and coffee; tips for restaurant staff and drivers; the services of the lecturer and tour manager.
The Compleat Angler, Marlow: comfortable 4-star hotel, well-positioned beside the Thames with excellent views. The Grand Hotel, Eastbourne: 5-star seafront hotel overlooking the cliffs at Beachy Head. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout.
The tour would be a struggle for anyone whose walking is impaired. There is a short walk from the coach park to the opera house. Average distance by coach per day: 49 miles.
Between 10 and 22 participants.
Eastern Turkey, 9–24 June 2025
Treasures of Moravia, 13–20 June 2025
Great Irish Houses, 13–21 June 2025
Cotswolds Choral Festival, 16–20 June 2025
The Welsh Marches, 16–20 June 2025
Flemish Painting, 1–6 July 2025
Testimonials
“This was a magical tour for me: a perfect opera experience and holiday - excellent singing, excellent seats for wonderful productions of interesting operas combined with elegant ambiance and pleasant and knowledgeable group participants, an insightful lecturer and excellent tour manager.
”
“The opera experience was universally excellent and a great pleasure.
”
“Fabulous. I enjoyed the variety of the operas performed - combined with the excellent singing, innovative productions and magical ambiance of both Garsington and Glyndebourne.
”
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