Introducing... A Midsummer Night's Dream

A brief introduction

Four young lovers find themselves lost in a magical wood – playthings for the fairies who rule there. Inhibition gives way to exploration, as fantasy and reality collide over the course of one heady summer’s night.

Shakespeare’s comedy of warring lovers casts a heady spell in Benjamin Britten’s bewitching opera. Magic, mischief and passion are the main ingredients in an operatic love potion that’s impossible to resist…

Why not to miss this production

Peter Hall’s five star production is a true classic – first performed in 1981 to rave reviews, it has remained in the repertoire ever since. For many, this is the definitive production of the opera.

Audiences over the past four decades have loved the visual magic of the staging – the forest that comes to life, the elaborate Elizabethan costumes and outlandish wigs. Described by The Daily Telegraph as ‘enchanting’, with The Times declaring it a ‘gem’ and praising the productions ‘simple beauty, its atmosphere, its magic’, while The Observer simply called it ‘a masterpiece’.

Come and be enchanted this autumn with a magical production that promises to transport you to a different world…

A great moment to look out for

The orchestral opening to A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of the most strikingly evocative and memorable passages of all 20th century opera, described by conductor and Britten biographer Paul Kildea as ‘a beautiful feathery sketch, surrounded by air and space’. Where Shakespeare’s play begins in the human world of the court, Britten plunges us straight into the fairy realm. 

We are unmoored from reality right from the start, at once lulled and disturbed by unearthly cellos that drift up and down chromatically, sliding effortlessly from key to key. As we continue to listen they become the rustling and creaking of the magic wood, coming to life in our ears. This gives way to the ethereal voices of the fairies, traditionally performed at Glyndebourne by the Trinity Boys Choir, for the spine tingling opening number ‘Over Hill, Over Dale’.

You can enjoy some of the highlights from A Midsummer Night’s Dream in this preview of our 2006 CD release, which is currently available from our shop.