Glyndebourne - getting in

[rauschwerk]

I'm planning my first visit to Glyndebourne (this year or next). Should I become an 'associate member' and get priority booking (still by ballot, it would seem) or take my chance when public booking opens in March? All advice welcome!

[duncan]

There is a good survey of the various 'friends' schemes on Intermezzo. Executive summary: don't bother.

On a personal note, we usually go once or twice a year and we've always managed to obtain something for the performances we really want to see despite only being interested in the cheaper seats. Usually something has been available in March but the most popular performances have sometimes required chasing for return tickets. It helps if you have a certain amount of flexibility as these tend to come up close to the day. We once resorted to turning up at the box office in person on the day in order to procure tickets for Tristan. This required a certain commitment to drive down from north London but we rationalised that we'd have a pleasant day walking and picnicing on the south Downs with the off-chance of a performance. Our dedication was rewarded!

[Belgrove]

One can join their Returns Club without being a member.

http://glyndebourne.com/returns-club

This gives notice of available seats a few days prior to the performance. Membership does have its advantages for big shows like Die Meistersinger, for which it was difficult to get tickets on specific dates even for members. I would suspect that Der Rosenkavalier is the only show for which availability will be scarce come the time of public booking.

[Dave2002]

A very significant factor is how well off you are or feel.

We have been fairly lucky so far in recent years, though if you wait until public booking opens it's probably best to be poised ready with a phone the moment the office opens. A few words of warning though:

1. Some productions in recent years have been really wacky - you may like them, not everyone does.
2. There are some relatively cheap seats high up at the sides. Personally I find these horrible, and would not recommend them.
Not only do they feel unpleasant, but they also have poor sight lines.

My feeling is that many of those who are members opt for fairly cheap seats up in the circle but centrally placed with good views. You have to work out whether the saving on the tickets is worth the cost of joining.

Another consideration, unfortunately, is age. If you are young enough you may get value out of joining, but there comes a time when one can estimate how many productions one might still see, and then do a calculation. If one is married or in a partnership, it's worth getting two people registered in case one dies! In any case the initial membership has to be for one person - the second person is added in later.

I am almost of the opinion that if there is something you really want to see it's easiest just to pay for the best/highest priced tickets - but of course not everyone is able to do that. You also need to have a view as which seating area is best for you.

We have also tried Glyndebourne Touring Opera - at Glyndebourne, and that tends to be a bit easier, though of course one goes at a much colder time of year and picnics are not such a feature. The performances seem also to be very good, and in any case often cheaper than going to touring venues such as Milton Keynes and Woking. However, those performances are also now getting more popular, and there is a separate members club - joining the Festival does not entitle one to special privileges re the Touring group, nor vice-versa.

There are other places to see opera - some very good. In the UK Garsington also has good performances (very), and I think you could do a cheap weekend to places like Prague and Budapest, or even Eurostar to Lille, and see performances which are much cheaper, but still good, compared with the UK. Latvia is good too, or was 10 years ago.

[Nick Armstrong]

One can join their Returns Club without being a member.
http://glyndebourne.com/returns-club

Unless invited by someone else, I've only ever got tickets by calling at 10am for returns for future dates, and making arrangements accordingly. Always used to get what we wanted, though not so much lately as I've gone off opera (due to too many disappointments with singers and producers)

[Dave2002]

Unless invited by someone else, I've only ever got tickets by calling at 10am for returns for future dates, and making arrangements accordingly. Always used to get what we wanted, though not so much lately as I've gone off opera (due to too many disappointments with singers and producers)

Agree about some disappointments - mostly producers. I don't think I've ever heard any poor singers - mostly good up to superb.

Seating plan - http://glyndebourne.com/auditorium-seating-plans

Personally I think some of the Foyer Circle seats are the best, though some of the Stalls seats are OK.

[Colonel Danby]

I've been a few times to Glyndebourne, and it is certainly is worth the effort and the picnic in the garden was splendid: ok we really only saw 20th stuff like Janacek, although we did catch 'Nozze' last time we were there. I'm on the mailing list, and got the lucky and rare opportunity to become an "associate member" for only 500 of your english pounds (there is a 10 year waiting list actually to join the Festival society itself) so I wrote and told them that I would rather spend a fiver and go to the Glyndebourne prom at the Albert Hall and save my dough (even if I choose to dress for the evening and have champagne cocktails with Philip).

[Bax-of-Delights]

I would re-iterate what Dave2002 says above although I'm not so against the side seats so long as you are three or four seats in from the Proscenium Arch. Checking throughout the season last year I saw that one could book for most of the operas well after the public booking had commenced. I used to be on the Mailing List booking for £10 a year until it was ditched in favour of the £500 Associate membership. I take my chances with the general booking and haven't been disappointed (apart from the gruesome Ariadne production last year). Even got tickets for Nozze a couple of weeks before the performance.

[PhilipT]

I got my name on the old Waiting List (now renamed Associate Membership) for £100 when I was in my mid-30s, just before they temporarily closed the list. Ten years later I got to the top of the list and became a Member (and the £100 was, I think, knocked off my first year's annual Membership fee). They do charge that, you know - about £170 p.a. (although they throw in a free Programme Book). At my age now, with Associate Membership the price it is, I'm not sure I'd bother. If you're young and opera is your thing and you (or a rich relative, or your sugar daddy) can afford the £500, then maybe.

Only Foundation and Funding Members are certain to get seats. Even Festival Society Members have to take their chances in a ballot, and can't book the cheapest seats (in the Upper Circle Slips). The Upper Circle is OK (but take your binoculars).

[Belgrove]

Public booking opens on 10th March. As anticipated, Der Rosenkavalier is showing only returns for all performances. La traviata has some tickets available for just two performances. Plenty available for all the other shows.

[Thropplenoggin]

Public booking opens on 10th March. As anticipated, Der Rosenkavalier is showing only returns for all performances. La traviata has some tickets available for just two performances. Plenty available for all the other shows.

I'm interested in Don Giovanni.

[Flosshilde]

I don't think Leporello's list included gentlemen (although I'm sure that someone of the Don's priapic nature wouldn't rule them out)

[amateur51]

I don't think Leporello's list included gentlemen (although I'm sure that someone of the Don's priapic nature wouldn't rule them out)

poor Throppers

[vinteuil]

"I hope Ruth enjoyed Glyndebourne. I wonder if she met John Christie. He is a very Pickwickian figure now, physically as well as mentally, which he always was. He took enormous trouble over everything at Glyndebourne down to the smallest details. There is something engaging about what one could call the Prussian thoroughness, but for the sly fun in it, that in the cast's lavatories, the ladies' seats are of different sizes, because, as J. C. simply explains, the rumps of prima donnas vary greatly in size. He once gravely admitted that the shapes as well as the sizes varied, but regretfully decided that it was too delicate a problem to tackle."

[George Lyttelton to Rupert Hart-Davis, 14 July 1960.]

[amateur51]

"I hope Ruth enjoyed Glyndebourne. I wonder if she met John Christie. He is a very Pickwickian figure now, physically as well as mentally, which he always was. He took enormous trouble over everything at Glyndebourne down to the smallest details. There is something engaging about what one could call the Prussian thoroughness, but for the sly fun in it, that in the cast's lavatories, the ladies' seats are of different sizes, because, as J. C. simply explains, the rumps of prima donnas vary greatly in size. He once gravely admitted that the shapes as well as the sizes varied, but regretfully decided that it was too delicate a problem to tackle."

[George Lyttelton to Rupert Hart-Davis, 14 July 1960.]

Welcome back vints, great to see you injecting some learned levity into the proceedings once again