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See our slideshow of World's Best Opera Festivals.
With some notable exceptions—like Santa Fe and Tanglewood—the best festivals are located on the continent where the art form started: Europe. If traditional opera with grandiose sets sounds appealing, Salzburg's festival is the place to be. But for bolder programs and a more gorgeous setting, the top prize may go to the Lucerne Festival, which was founded in 1938 by Arturo Toscanini after the Nazi annexation of Austria. While concert versions of operas have been staged at Lucerne, the festival is best-known for its lineup of world-class orchestras, conductors and soloists. Among the latter is America's leading soprano, Renée Fleming, who gave a characteristically breathless performance of Strauss's "Four Last Songs" in 2004.
"At the Lucerne Festival, you find the highest quality music in the most exquisite setting,” says Fleming. “The calmness of the lake and mountains enhances the musical experience in the best possible way.” She adds that the Lucerne Festival “is also a place where the best ensembles and performers in the world love to come each summer.”
In Lucerne, music-lovers will meet not just star sopranos but also boldfaced designers; Jean Nouvel designed the Culture and Convention Center, where the performances take place, at the edge of Lake Lucerne in 2000. American acoustician Russell Johnson worked his magic in the interior while Nouvel's spectacular cantilevered roof allows sweeping views of the lake and medieval Lucerne during intermissions. On the schedule for 2008: orchestras-in-residence that include the New York Philharmonic and Cleveland Orchestra in addition to the powerhouse Lucerne Festival Orchestra, and performances by Anne Sofie von Otter and Cecilia Bartoli.
As far as logistics are concerned, Mary Lou Falcone, the festival’s U.S. spokesperson, says, "It's as easy as flying non-stop to Zurich, boarding a train right in the airport, and finding yourself in Lucerne in less than one hour.” Once there, she adds, “the beauty of the setting takes your breath away.”
England’s Glyndebourne Festival is considered by many to be hands-down the world’s top summer opera festival. It is certainly the most elegant: “The atmosphere is incredible,” says Marisol Montalvo, the American soprano who has the leading role in a world premiere, "Love and Other Demons" (based on the novella by Gabriel Garcia Marquez).
See our slideshow of World's Best Opera Festivals.
“You go to the opera dressed to the nines, in tuxedos and long gowns, and then you go watch the first half of the opera, then you break for dinner, you go out to the green, where the sheep and the cows are, you lay your picnic blanket down and you eat dinner for an hour or so, then you pack it all up and go back into the theater for the rest of the show.”
Glyndebourne is about an hour outside of London and 10 minutes from Brighton. “Hotels are booked up and tickets sell out fast because the quality is so high,” says Montalvo. “It’s so first-class, everything they [the festival organizers] touch and do, and they do it with a sense of humility, out of a love for music.”
And then there is France. The main event at the Chorégies d'Orange, France’s oldest festival (Bastille Day notwithstanding) is a series of opera performances with the best international talent in a ravishing, perfectly preserved Roman theater that holds 9,000 spectators. Just remember to buy a cushion before sitting down to your three-hour extravaganza; those ancient seats are hewn from solid rock. At the justly renowned Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, music spills out of Baroque buildings such as the Theatre de l'Archeveche, Chateau de Saint-Jean-de-la-Salle, and Theatre du Jeu de Paume (Louis XIV' s former tennis court).
The more established opera festivals may have the highest glamour quotient and pull the biggest names, but don’t overlook some of the smaller festivals around the world. Oftentimes lesser known works are performed – in fact, that’s a hallmark of Wexford. Lécroart, the French baritone, sang there in Auber’s version of Manon Lescaut, not the better-known one by Puccini. And even if a festival like Wexford’s isn’t strictly speaking outdoors, there are often charming quirks: “The theater we sang in was like an old Parisian movie house, with a parterre and a balcony—the kind that doesn’t exist in Paris anymore,” Lécroart recalls.
In Bregenz, Austria, elaborate staging on an artificial island moored in Lake Constance means each production has a two-year run, and the Seepromenade, Bregenz’s little lakeside shoreline, is always hopping as a result. Montalvo, the soprano, played Maria in "West Side Story" at Bregenz in 2003 and 2004, singing on what she describes as a sort of rotating railroad track. “Bregenz is one of those experiences you can never forget in your life,” she says. “It’s one of those special places. It’s just amazing how people build that stuff.”
And though Montalvo, who is already gearing up for the world premiere of "Love and Other Demons" on August 10, says she has “lots of high notes” in the eagerly anticipated opera, the highest note of all may be one she reserves for the Glyndebourne Festival: “It’s something everyone should experience,” she says. “There’s nothing like it.”
See our slideshow of World's Best Opera Festivals.
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