THE first ever UK production of a rarely seen opera by Francis Cavalli will kick off next year’s Glyndebourne Festival.

The festival is preparing the premiere of a new production Hipermestra alongside conductor William Christie to open the 2017 season.

Christie is a pioneer in the rediscovery of baroque music who will conduct the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. 

Other highlights on the newly-announced calendar include the world premiere of a new opera based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet and a new production of Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito.

Productions being revived for the 2017 festival include Tom Cairns’s 2014 staging of Verdi’s La traviata, and Katharina Thoma’s 2013 Glyndebourne Festival production of Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos.
Hipermestra will be directed by Graham Vick, his first new staging for

Glyndebourne in nearly 20 years. It is based on Greek mythology and premiered in 1658 but after 1680 was not staged again until its modern premiere at the Early Music Festival in Utrecht in 2006.

Glyndebourne’s production will be the first since then and continues their tradition staging the operas of Cavalli. 

“Almost 50 years ago Glyndebourne first introduced Francesco Cavalli, a completely forgotten composer, with two of his works, L’Ormindo and La Calisto. The effect on the opera world was nothing short of extraordinary,” says Christie.

Public booking begins on March 5, visit glyndebourne.com.