London – Following record-breaking audiences in 2025, Glyndebourne has announced that it is expanding its Autumn Season in 2026. Next year’s programme will include additional performances of two mainstage operas, a series of concerts and the world premiere of Spark, a newly-commissioned youth opera by composer Lucy Armstrong with a libretto by Olivia Bell.
In 2025, Glyndebourne welcomed its largest autumn audience to date, with more than 32,000 attendees. This year, 24% of ticket buyers were first-time bookers – another all-time high for this part of Glyndebourne’s year-round programme. For Glyndebourne’s Autumn Season 2026 – running from 14 October to 13 December – over 35,000 tickets will be available, with more than 11,000 tickets under £50.
Stephen Langridge, Artistic Director of Glyndebourne, said:
‘Our Autumn Season has become a major part of the UK’s annual opera calendar, known as a place for discovering emerging talent and new work. It also offers new audiences a more informal and affordable way to experience opera at Glyndebourne so I’m delighted that such a large proportion of this year’s audience were first-time bookers and that we sold record-breaking numbers of concessionary and children tickets. I hope that many of those visitors will have been inspired to make a habit of opera and I am confident that they will find plenty to entice them in next autumn’s exciting programme.’
Glyndebourne’s 2026 Autumn Season opens with revivals of two of opera’s most beloved comedies: Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and Rossini’s The Barber of Seville.
The Marriage of Figaro – a revival of Mariame Clément’s Festival 2025 production – features an exciting cast led by four singers making their Glyndebourne debuts: soprano Mei Gui Zhang, praised by critics for her ‘bright, agile soprano’, sings Susanna; prize-winning bass Jasurbek Khaydarov takes the role of Figaro; baritone Anton Beliaev appears as the Count; and soprano Olivia Boen, a rising star on the international stage, sings the Countess.
Annabel Arden’s Festival 2016 production of The Barber of Seville sees former Royal Opera Jette Parker Young Artist Hongni Wu returning to the UK as the quick-witted Rosina, plotting her escape with the help of baritone LluÃs Calvet i Pey as Figaro. Soprano Ailish Tynan reprises her much-admired, scene-stealing performance as Berta.
The world premiere of Spark takes place in November 2026. Aimed at children aged 9-13, the new youth opera continues Glyndebourne’s decades-long commitment to creating work with and for young people. Spark tells a moving story of loss, friendship and rediscovering the spark that keeps us going. It marks the first opera by Lucy Armstrong to be performed at Glyndebourne. Armstrong is currently a participant in Balancing the Score, a development initiative supporting the next generation of opera composers.
The latter part of the Autumn Season features concert performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, conducted by Adam Hickox, Principal Conductor of the Glyndebourne Sinfonia. Beethoven’s monumental ninth symphony, crowned by the iconic ‘Ode to Joy’, expands the symphonic form to new expressive heights, its final movement a powerful call for unity, peace and shared humanity. Tchaikovsky’s vivid, wordless drama meanwhile is rich with soaring lyricism, emotional intensity and musical conflict.
Glyndebourne’s varied projects and initiatives to share opera with the local community will return in autumn 2026, including performances for local schoolchildren at Glyndebourne, workshops in schools to support singing and musical composition in the classroom, and the One Voice Festival of Singing (in partnership with Create Music), which offers young people the opportunity to sing on stage with the Glyndebourne Chorus.
Glyndebourne’s much-loved Christmas Concerts featuring opera choruses, orchestral classics and singalong carols for all ages, will conclude the Autumn Season.
Glyndebourne’s Autumn Season 2026 is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England with additional support from Dunard Fund.
Autumn Season 2026 runs from 14 October to 13 December.
Glyndebourne Festival 2026 runs from 21 May to 30 August.
About Glyndebourne
For over 90 years, Glyndebourne has been home to some of the best opera in the world: groundbreaking, award-winning productions crafted with exquisite attention to detail. Last year, more than 125,000 people journeyed from 50 countries to experience one of over 100 live performances at our iconic home in Sussex. With the second-largest opera programme in the UK, we’re a destination for opera lovers everywhere.