Saturday, August 21, 2010

Glyndebourne, East Sussex, England

Glyndebourne is the ultimate opera theme park. You are in beautiful East Sussex, 50 miles south of London, in countryside with fields of sheep, herds of deer, rolling downs and the occasional fox. Glyndebourne has superb productions in wonderful acoustics, dining at the long interval either in one of the restaurants or at a meadow picnic, and people- watching the fascinating, British opera goers, all right out of Central Casting. Weather permitting (which it did for us), the effect is a life experience. Here is our group of Philharmonic folks in one of our better pictures taken by our driver Graham, who is the best, by the way.

The vocal discovery of this trip to Glyndebourne – the Korean tenor Yonghoon Lee. His Macduff moment in Verdi’s Macbeth was stunning. He has a big voice and a passionate presence on stage. I missed him at the Bowl in Dudamel’s Carmen first of August. Reports from that performance echo my Glyndebourne experience. Check him out and keep him on the radar.

Look for and drink Nutbourne Wine while you are in Sussex.

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