Glyndebourne Festival 2018 opens 19 May

Glyndebourne Festival 2018 opens on 19 May with the Festival debut of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, directed by Annilese Miskimmon.

Other highlights include a rare opportunity to see Samuel Barber’s Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Vanessa, in a new production from director Keith Warner. One of the great American operas, Vanessa was hailed as a triumph at its premiere in 1958 but quickly fell out of the repertoire and has only been staged intermittently since.

The third new production will be Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, an opera that sought to rewrite the rules of the art form. It will be staged by the in-demand Norwegian director Stefan Herheim and conducted by Glyndebourne’s Music Director Robin Ticciati.

The season is completed with revivals of three popular productions from Glyndebourne’s recent history - Richard Jones’s elegantly colourful 2014 production of Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, David McVicar’s legendary production of Handel’s Giulio Cesare and Barrie Kosky’s smash-hit staging of Saul, also by Handel.

The Festival can once again be enjoyed on stage, on screen and online. Three of the season’s productions will be screened in cinemas UK-wide and broadcast for free online in partnership with the Telegraph Media Group.