#glyndebourne

#glyndebourne

Last night's revival at Glyndebourne of Sir Peter Hall's classic 1981 Festival production of Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream' was dreamlike and fantastical. Tonight I'm at the Coliseum for English National Opera's new semi-staged Albert Herring', Britten's lacerating chamber opera satirising English small-town mores. The ENO have had some success with their semi-staged productions including Gloriana', Duke Bluebeard's Castle' and Suor Angelica' and I'm fascinated to see if Albert Herring', directed and designed by multi-awardwinning Antony McDonald, will suit this pared back approach.

Alder looks faintly amused, then reminds me she's been at Glyndebourne doing three performances of Mozart's Marriage of Figaro every week since the end of June. In fact, she was on stage as the Countess barely 12 hours earlier. It's never-ending, she says. I don't want this to come across negatively it's been the most amazing contract but an extremely long run.

bringing with it the weight of tradition: a reminder that opera at the Proms has always been about making the grand feel accessible, and the intimate feel expansive. In the vast space of the Royal Albert Hall, the familiar overture races ahead with its restless wit, and suddenly an opera written for the intimacy of late-18th-century Vienna came alive again for thousands of listeners under a single domed roof and for many, many more live on Radio 3.