Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème delights at Glyndebourne

Spokeswoman Kate Harvey said: “This Festival 2022 production is Glyndebourne’s sixth production of La Bohème and its first in over 20 years. Puccini’s opera was first performed at Glyndebourne in 1967 in a Festival production by Michael Redgrave, and it has been staged in a further four versions since then (including a staging by John Cox in 1972), the most recent being David McVicar’s production for Glyndebourne Tour 2000. This is the first production for Glyndebourne by the young Dutch director Floris Visser, until recently artistic director of the Dutch opera company Opera Trionfo. Canadian conductor Jordan de Souza leads the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

“Chilean soprano Yaritza Véliz (a former Royal Opera House Jette Parker Young Artist) makes her Glyndebourne Festival debut as Rodolfo’s love interest Mimì, with baritone Daniel Scofield as Marcello. South African soprano Vuvu Mpofu (who appeared in the 2019 Glyndebourne Tour production of Verdi’s Rigoletto and won Glyndebourne’s John Christie Award the same year) will play the role of Marcello’s former lover Musetta.

“Each performance of La Bohème features a children’s chorus comprising six pupils from Trinity School near Croydon and six young people from the Glyndebourne Youth Opera, recruited from the local area and ranging in age from nine to 13. Filmed live this summer, Glyndebourne’s new production of La Bohème will be screened in selected cinemas nationwide from Sunday, September 11. For more information and to book tickets, visit glyndebourne.com/on-screen

“This production (as well as all Festival 2022 new productions) will also be released on Glyndebourne Encore, a new streaming platform enabling subscribers to enjoy Glyndebourne productions on demand. The live recording will arrive on the platform in November 2022. Audiences across England will have further chances to see the production as part of Glyndebourne Tour 2022 which runs from October 9-December 11 and, following three weeks of performances at Glyndebourne, visits Canterbury, Milton Keynes, Norwich and Liverpool.”

Glyndebourne Festival 2022 runs until August 28.

Highlights include new productions of Ethel Smyth’s The Wreckers, Puccini’s La Bohème, Handel’s Alcina and a Poulenc Double Bill of La Voix humaine and Les Mamelles de Tirésias, alongside revivals of Michael Grandage’s 2012 production of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and Mariame Clément’s 2011 production of Don Pasquale.

“All four new productions at the 2022 Festival will apply the baseline principles of the Theatre Green Book, which is bringing theatre-makers together with sustainability experts to set common standards for sustainable theatre, with more material reused from stores and plans for the disposal or reuse of every component agreed in advance with creative teams. Glyndebourne has been working for more than a decade to reduce its environmental footprint and in 2022 celebrates ten years since the launch of its onsite wind turbine. Between 2012 and 2021 the turbine produced the equivalent of 105 per cent of the electricity used by Glyndebourne in the same period. Together with a wide range of energy-saving measures, this has resulted in an 83 per cent reduction in energy-related emissions between 2009-20.”