Glyndebourne Festival
This was a nice assignment for Helsingin Sanomat to photograph the atmosphere of one of the world’s oldest and most celebrated opera festivals, the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex.
The festival has been held annually since 1934, picnics are laid out in the Glyndebourne gardens before the opera performances that begin late afternoon, and end about 9.30pm with a long interval for dinner with visitors dressed in black tie and evening dress.
On the day of our visit the opera was Hipermestra – Francesco Cavalli, a story of loyalty, suffering and redemption.
Hipermestra is one of the 50 daughters of King Danao of Argos, whose twin brother, King Egitto, has 50 sons … the opera actually began unbeknown to the vistors during the afternoon picnics with Arabian wedding couples walking around the gardens accompnied by an official photographer.
