On the grand occasion of a 90th birthday, you may expect a focus on the good days gone by. But as Glyndebourne rolls into its 10th decade, the prestigious operatic institution is planning ahead. “We’re spending a lot of time here thinking about the future,” muses artistic director Stephen Langridge. “Where do we want to be when we’re 100? Where do we want opera to be?”
With a reputation as the poshest and stuffiest of art forms – opera performances tend to be long, in a foreign language and made of music that few of us are brought up consuming – a lot of that distinction in the UK is linked to Glyndebourne. In the summertime, the grounds of the East Sussex manor house play host to hordes of people in fancy evening wear carrying elaborate picnics for the interval. For many, it seems a world away from reality. But when Langridge talks about opera, the musty cliches it has accumulated fall away. “My definition of opera is telling stories through music and action,” he says, never quite staying still as he talks. “And if that’s what opera is, then it exists everywhere, in every culture. It’s a way of reflecting the world around us. But it’s only going to reflect our world if we open it up.”
