One of the highlights of the British classical music summer is the Glyndebourne Opera Festival, a global temple of the genre, renowned for its gardens and custom-built theatre, but also all the traditions that make it such an unforgettable experience, whether you attend for the first time, or you are a regular.
This year, the Glyndebourne Festival was cancelled, and will hold a virtual festival in its place, Glyndebourne Open House, fundraising in support of their staff who will not have any work this summer.
We are very fortunate that Glyndebourne have chosen to open the festival with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's most popular Italian operas:The Marriage of Figaro (1786), Don Giovanni (1787), and Così fan tutte (1790). Collectively, they are known as The da Ponte Operas for opera librettist, Lorenzo da Ponte—the first Professor of Italian at Columbia College in 1825 at the age of 76.
To help celebrate their works, we are having pre-show meet-up followed by an screening of each opera. Registration will be separate for each (links below) to the pre-performance virtual drink before we join the broadcast; moderated by Glyndebourne Associate Member and CUCL Chair, Maria Shiao SEAS'86 . But if you can't make it, the operas will be available for 7 days.
For week two, the pre-performance event will be held at 4pm, with a very special talk by Professor Elaine Sisman, the Anne Parsons Bender Professor of Music at Columbia University, to answer the question, "Is Don Giovanni Evil?"
To conclude the series on June 9th, Professor Sisman will be back to further explore the works of Mozart and da Ponte offering insights and history.
We hope you'll join us for 1, 2, 3 or all the events.
