We hold four in-house events each year. These take the form of talks, usually accompanied by video clips of performances, given by distinguished people from the world of opera, including performers, composers, designers, technical experts and administrators. They normally take place on Saturday lunchtimes at Itchen Abbas, near Winchester, and cost £33. Guests are also welcomed at a cost of £38.

In the first half of this year, we have enjoyed talks by the costume and set designer, Gary McCann, and by the composer of “Under the Greenwood Tree”, Paul Carr. The extremely talented and promising baritone, Charles Cunliffe, winner of this year’s Wessex Glyndebourne Award, also sang us a delightful selection of songs and operatic arias at an evening recital.

We have a number of forthcoming events. The first is our annual outing to Beaulieu for a concert by young members of the Glyndebourne Chorus. This will be on 5 th July this year. On 16 th August, we will be welcoming the internationally renowned tenor Nicky Spence for one of our lunchtime meetings; this is certain to be highly entertaining because Nicky Spence is an extremely charismatic and larger than life character. This year’s trip to Glyndebourne will be on 26 th October and we will be watching Benjamin Britten’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. And on November 22 nd we will meet Tyler Stoops, newly appointed as the CEO of the Grange Festival.