Glyndebourne-opera

Conductor Enrique Mazzola and Director Annabel Arden talk to James Whitbourn about their production of Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore at the Glyndebourne Festival 2011. Recorded on location at Glyndebourne summer 2011.

Director Robert Carsen and Dramaturg Ian Burton talk talk to James Whitbourn about Handel's Rinaldo first performed at the Glyndebourne Festival in 2011 and revived in 2014. Recorded on location at Glyndebourne in summer 2011.

Conductor Vladimir Jurowski talks to James Whitbourn about Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, which was first performed at Glyndebourne in summer 2011. The DVD and Blu-ray of this production are available from the Glyndebourne shop: https://www.glyndebourneshop.com/wagner-die-meistersinger-von-nurnberg-2011/ Produced for Festival 2011

Conductor Sir Andrew Davis and Director Melly Still talk to James Whitbourn about Dvořák's Rusalka. Clips from the Glyndebourne CD label recording - available in the Glyndebourne Shop. http://glyndebourne.com/shop/cds-audio/glyndebourne-cd-label Produced for Festival 2011

Conductor Jakub Hrůša and Director Jonathan Kent talk to James Whitbourn about The Turn of the Screw. Clips from the Glyndebourne CD label recording - available in the Glyndebourne Shop. http://cms.glyndebourne.com/shop/cds-audio/glyndebourne-cd-label Produced for Festival 2011

For Britten's centenary year, Fiona Shaw directs a new production of The Rape of Lucretia, which had its first performance at Glyndebourne in 1946. In this podcast, presenter Peggy Reynolds shares some of the recollections of the original production's star - the great mezzo Kathleen Ferrier - and the creative team who brought Britten's work to the stage. Glyndebourne's dramaturg Cori Ellison, considers the place of The Rape of Lucretia within Britten's canon of works, as the first of his 'chamber operas', and explores the source material for Ronald Duncan's libretto. The conductor, Nicholas Collon, reflects on the historical moment Lucretia was born out of and celebrates Britten's extraordinary vocal and orchestral writing. And Fiona Shaw unfolds the layers of the opera, telling Lucretia's story and considering the work's ongoing significance. [Producer: Mair Bosworth for Tour 2013]

A guide to Glyndebourne's signature opera, Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, with music from the live recording of our 1962 production. Presenter Peggy Reynolds explores the historical context of the opera, the politics behind its humour, and Mozart's sublime music of rage and forgiveness. With contributions from Conductor Jane Glover, General Director of Glyndebourne David Pickard, Head of Music at Royal Holloway, University of London, Julian Johnson and Dr John Leigh of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge – a specialist in 18th Century French thought and literature. [Producer: Mair Bosworth for Festival 2013] (Musical extracts from the 1962 Glyndebourne recording of Le nozze di Figaro)

Peggy Reynolds provides a historical and musical introduction to one of the great works of French Baroque opera, Jean-Philippe Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie. We hear from Jeanice Brooks, Professor of Music at the University of Southampton, who identifies Rameau as an almost exact contemporary of Handel and Bach, who started his musical career as an organist and theorist and went on to stage lavish operas for Louis XV as 'Compositeur du Cabinet du Roi'. From writer and mythographer Marina Warner, who unfolds the myth which forms the basis of the opera's narrative, and explores the Racine play which inspired Pellegrin's libretto for Rameau's opera. And from Sarah Connolly, who marvels at the richness of invention in Rameau's music and explores the pivotal role of Phèdre, a woman doomed to an unattainable and incestuous love. [Producer: Mair Bosworth for Festival 2013] (Musical extracts used with kind permission of Warner Music)

Ariadne auf Naxos brings together the 'high art' of opera seria and the lighter, comic entertainment of the commedia dell'arte. Peggy Reynolds provides a historical and musical introduction to this ambitious, witty and intricately crafted collaboration between Richard Strauss and his librettist, the poet and playwright Hugo von Hofmannsthal. With contributions from the writer and broadcaster David Nice, who provides expert insight into Strauss's use of the orchestra to explore the theme of 'high' versus 'low' art. From theatre director Didi Hopkins of Commediaworks, who explains the history of the commedia dell'arte and introduces us to some of the art form's stock characters. And from the writer Michael Kennedy who explores the - at times rather fraught - working relationship between Strauss and Hofmannsthal and discusses the genius of Strauss's music. [Producer: Mair Bosworth for Festival 2013] (Musical extracts used with kind permission of EMI Classics.)

Peggy Reynolds explores Gaetano Donizetti's Don Pasquale. With expert insights from the conductor, Sir Mark Elder, who argues that Don Pasquale is "a brilliant refilling of an old mould". From Francesco Izzo, Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Southampton, who sets the opera into the wider historical context of the development of opera buffa, arguing that Don Pasquale was a new kind of comic opera, one which treats its characters with great empathy and warmth. From Glyndebourne's dramaturg, Cori Ellison, on the origins of the Basso Buffo character in Italian commedia dell'arte and Donizetti's use of the waltz as a signifier for youth throughout the opera. And from Danielle de Niese, who introduces us to Norina, the opera's feisty heroine and considers the moral of the story. [Producer: Mair Bosworth for Festival 2013] (Musical extracts used with kind permission of Decca Classics)

As part of the celebrations of Britten's centenary year, Peggy Reynolds explores one of his best-loved works - Billy Budd. With contributions from Sir Thomas Allen, who introduces us to the character of Budd and sets the drama into historical context, against the backdrop of the French revolutionary wars. From Ellie Stedall, who tells us more about the source of the libretto - a short novella by the American writer Herman Melville - which explores ideas of free will, conscience and the fugitive nature of truth. And from the music writer Gavin Plumley, who celebrates the huge range of musical styles and textures found in Billy Budd and the unique soundworld created by Britten's all-male cast. [Producer: Mair Bosworth for Festival 2013]

Peggy Reynolds explores Giuseppe Verdi’s last, great work: the comic opera Falstaff. With contributions from the conductor Sir Mark Elder, who celebrates the delicacy, wit and humanity of Verdi’s score. From Glyndebourne’s dramaturg, Cori Ellison, who reflects on the quicksilver pace of this wonderfully funny work by a composer who we do not tend to associate with comedy. And from the baritone Laurent Naouri, who discusses the role of Falstaff, and the words and music written for the character by Verdi and his librettist, the prodigiously talented Arrigo Boito. [Producer: Mair Bosworth for Festival 2013] Musical extracts from the 1960 Glyndebourne recording of Falstaff. Available from the Glyndebourne shop: https://www.glyndebourneshop.com/verdi-giuseppe-falstaff-cd-1960/

Peggy Reynolds gives an introduction to two of the early twentieth century’s most intriguing operas, Maurice Ravel’s L’heure Espagnole and L’enfant et les Sortileges. General Director of Glyndebourne David Pickard praises Ravel’s mastery of orchestration and the unique soundworlds he creates in these two fascinating works. Richard Langham Smith, Research Professor at the Royal College of Music, explores the operatic farce of L’heure Espagnole and considers psychoanalytic readings of L’enfant et les Sortileges. And pianist and musicologist Dr Emily Kilpatrick explores the texts upon which the operas were based and tells us of Ravel’s fascination with Spain, childhood, and the music of machines. (Producer: Mair Bosworth for Festival 2012) Musical extracts used with kind permission of Decca.

Presenter Peggy Reynolds provides an introduction to Gioachino Rossini's La Cenerentola. She sets the opera in historical context and explores some of the themes and stories behind Rossini's great work. With contributions from writer and mythographer Marina Warner on the origins of the Cinderella myth, conductor Vladimir Jurowski on Rossini's use of coloratura, and Director Sir Peter Hall on La Cenerentola as post-enlightenment reimagining of the Cinderella story. (Producer: Mair Bosworth for Festival 2012)