Glyndebourne launches streaming service

Florence Lockheart
Tuesday, November 2, 2021

The service will offer subscribers access to recordings of future productions as well as two decades of Glyndebourne performances.

Glyndebourne today announced the upcoming launch of its streaming service, Glyndebourne Encore, which will offer subscribers on-demand access to its back catalogue of world-class opera, as well as all future filmed productions. The service will be launched on 1 December.

Sarah Hopwood, managing director of Glyndebourne, said: ‘Twenty years ago Glyndebourne made the farsighted decision to take control of its own destiny by investing in filming its productions. The collection of recordings that we have built since then is a fantastic asset that helps us reach new audiences, give wider exposure to our artists and generate new income. Subscriptions to Glyndebourne Encore will help us maintain our status as a financially-independent charity and will be reinvested in filming future productions so that audiences can continue to enjoy the latest Glyndebourne operas well into the future.’

Glyndebourne used the collection of recorded performances it’s been accumulating since 2002 to run a digital version of the 2020 Glyndebourne Festival, which was cancelled due to the pandemic. Building on the popularity of this digital offering, Glyndebourne has made its operas available year-round through Glyndebourne Encore and will also continue to offer free limited period streams to make its work more accessible.

Stephen Langridge, artistic director of Glyndebourne, said: ‘Last summer’s digital festival highlighted the huge appetite for Glyndebourne opera all around the world. Glyndebourne Encore is a response to that audience demand and will offer the chance to watch our productions in full whenever you choose. But that’s not all. Every month we’ll be delving deep into an individual opera to offer revealing insights and interviews to help people get the most out of every opera.’

From the platform’s launch on 1 December, Glyndebourne productions of Giulio Cesare, Saul, Billy Budd, Così fan tutte, Die Zauberflöte, Vanessa, Rusalka, Don Giovanni and Le nozze di Figaro will be available – with further additions scheduled throughout the year. A Glyndebourne Encore subscription will also give access the organisation’s future performances including those from Glyndebourne Festival 2022 and to a number of audio recordings from the Glyndebourne label.

You can find out more about this platform at Glyndebourne’s website.