The story goes that two chorus members of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera were returning to the green but sodden meadows of Sussex, England, after a brief break in London. That exchange about expresses the aura that surrounds Glyndebourne, one of the world's finest music festivals. The very drizzle is sacred.
Young singers vie for a place in the chorus.
Never mind that the time commitment is extravagant and the pay meager. To perform on this stage is to be recognized as an artist, not just another pair of vocal cords. Opera fans, too, struggle to get to Glyndebourne, but tickets have always been virtually unobtainable. For these wealthy people, an evening at Glyndebourne is a social rite, a rare chance to behave like a true English eccentric. Men dress conventionally in black tie.