Breaking: Climate protesters disrupt Glyndebourne
NewsA journalist at Glyndebourne tells slippedisc.com:
‘Just Stop Oil just let off a glitter cannon in the front row of Glyndebourne Dialogues des Carmelites. Halted performance. (They were) rapidly removed by security. Torrent of boos and shouts of “get out” from audience.
‘Stage management have asked us to be patient – the bang went off right next to conductor Robin Ticciati’s ear and he needs time to “reset” psychologically.’
You can see them in the image, holding a poster.
UPDATE: Here’s some protest video:
Just Stop Oil protest not very well received at Glyndebourne just now pic.twitter.com/XAgzzyznVI
— Alice Ross (@aliceemross) June 15, 2023
More here:
Action at @glyndebourne is paused after Just Stop Oil protest. Gave everyone a huge shock pic.twitter.com/m7sVyF1qJd
— Georgia Mann (@MannGeorgia) June 15, 2023
We are told that pparently Gus Christie spoke to the protestors after they were removed and pointed out that they’d just attacked the only opera house in the world to be powered 100% by renewable energy.
A statement following the Just Stop Oil protest at Glyndebourne
At approximately 5.31pm, today’s performance of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites was disrupted by three protestors who let off a confetti bomb, blew an air horn and started shouting. The stage was immediately cleared and within less than a minute ushers had peacefully escorted the protesters from the theatre.
The audience remained inside the theatre and were provided with regular updates and, following a 21 minute delay, the opera restarted at approximately 5.52pm.
We have formally reported the incident to the police but the police were not on site and no arrests were made.
Well played. This is how you get the attention of the wealthy elite. Make them uncomfortable for a bit. They’re the ones who fly private jets, own large houses and own investments in fossil fuel companies.
Such a stupid statement. People are fed up with Just Stop Oil disrupting lives. And fyi your cliché of only “wealthy elite” attending Opera performances and Classical Concerts is so dated and so out of touch with reality.
I hate to break it to you but the wealthy elite are paying your salary as an orchestra player. That’s how classical music works.
And the protesters are fighting for goals that would benefit you and I much more than the 1% who attend the opera.
No argument about the goals, but serious disagreement about the methods. What if the noise had damaged the conductor’s or a musician’s hearing, and thus their career? It is as meaningless a protest as slopping red paint onto a Monet (as happened this week in Stockholm). Let’s hope that no permanent damage was caused in either case.
You are quite uninformed, aren’t you? First, define “wealthy elite”. Second, they were sitting in the orchestra front row – how did they get in. They paid for the ticket. How did they get to the festival? I assume by car and/or plane.
Yes, climate change is as real as the sun and is upon us full blow,. But this BS is doing nothing against it.
God you talk bollocks
What wealthy elite?
I hate to break it to YOU but the “wealthy elite” aren’t the only people spending their money on opera tickets. I’m an orchestral player AND I purchase tickets to the opera. I’m not wealthy, but if this stuff went down at the Met Opera they would booed and ridiculed too. These pointless protests do nothing at all except rally us against the narrow-minded self-importance of the protest movement. All we do is hate the protestors more, and nothing changes with regard to their issues.
You are so right. I’ve been to Glyndebourne and they don’t even have a parking lot there….just an airstrip for private jets. And yes, being obnoxious to people who are, in the main on your side already is a really effective way to move the needle of public opinion. You are so brilliant.
I’ve been going to Glyndebourne for years – by train and their free coach link – and don’t consider myself ‘rich’ or ‘elite’. Does an income of less than £20k a year qualify me for this description? There is a car park, with electric charging points, but I’ve never seen an airstrip anywhere in this part of Sussex or even a helicopter land there. Get your facts right.
“Orchestral player” is right though. Your view is out of date. Now if the government funded classical music better, it could be *even more* accessible to one and all.
Oh, and I hate to break it to you, but orchestras are funded by business sponsorship where the money ultimately comes from the “little people”, private sponsors whose money came from (if you look closely enough), yes, you guessed it, the little people, advertising products on websites and in programmes to tempt all people (not just the wealthy elite) to buy their stuff, ticket sales and merchandise. And finally, the Arts Council which gets its money from taxes that the “wealthy elite” spend much of their time and money trying to avoid paying.
You don’t know very much about “how classical music works”, do you?
Oh, George. Such BS. Just envy, drama and overstatement. And out-of-date images of who goes to opera.
Without the people you malign, who’d invest in, run industry that generates employment, pays taxes, etc., etc. Surely not you.
Sure, some of the “elite” as you call them are duds; but then every social cadre has losers.
The protesters are just people who should be locked up and made to listen to the Flower Maidens in Parsifal on a constant loop.
@MMcG:
The protesters are just people who should be locked up and made to listen to the Flower Maidens in Parsifal on a constant loop.
But that’s gorgeous music. Try something by Philippe Hurel, that’ll sort them out.
Unfortunately, the wealthy elite are just the kind of people to do the exact opposite of what they are asked to do by people who are less wealthy and less elite than them. They are also not the only kind of people to attend performances like this.
Totally out of date comment about Glyndebourne and who attends. This lot got in with and could afford tickets and so they are part of your fictitious elite and rich! You don’t have a clue, and no regard for the performers.
Bollocks. The opera audience is largely moderately affluent and have never been near a private jet or a fossil fuel investment.
Actions like this just turn people against your cause. They’re counterproductive. Yes I was there. Mildly inconvenienced and mystified as to why anyone would target the only opera house which doesn’t run on fossil fuel because it has its own wind turbine.
I hate burst your bubble, folks, but Glyndebourne is not a place of all incomes, ages, races and backgrounds. It’s mostly the highly affluent and privileged who can attend. Tickets for “Dialogues” start at 230 pounds right now (!). And who else would wear tuxedoes and ball gowns to a picnic but the ultra-rich? Look at the corporate sponsors page on the company’s website – it’s all about “exclusive hospitality options” and entertaining clients.
I’m all for making opera accessible but this ain’t it.
Just Stop Oil was founded in February 2022. The Wind turbine at Glyndebourne was installed in 2012 , a full 10 years earlier. Which showed a high level of commitment.
Sorry , but however you look at this it would seem the protest was a spectacular ‘ home goal.’ Has anyone become a supporter of the cause through this action?
Also there are other events , not just Glyndebourne, where folks who are not ‘ the privileged’ as you put it spend a lot of money. For example Ladies Day at the races where people from all sorts backgrounds dress very smartly and how could you tell who is wealthy privileged and who is not?
All publicity is not always good publicity .
George – don’t do that.
You’re eliding the mass affluent, who can afford a treat with the ultra rich who have a second house in Biarritz and a third in Gstaad.
Yes, Glyndebourne relies on its corporate sponsorship as well as its loyal membership. But there are good operas for corporate entertainment – and Carmelites isn’t one of them.
While we were waiting for Ticciati and the singers to regain their composure so the opera could start again we looked through the programme. Number of fossil fuel companies advertising or buying corporate membership? A big fat zero.
According to their website starting prices are around 150 pounds. Their most expensive tickets (245 pounds) are less than the cheapest prices for many commercial music events….Taylor Swift, etc. Glyndebourne is a place for anyone who wants to buy a ticket and attend an opera.
I would just add that you don’t have to rent a tuxedo (dinner jacket) or buy a ballroom gown and expensive shoes to attend a Taylor Swift concert. It’s come as you are. Not so with elitist Glyndebourne.
You don’t “have to” do any such thing at Glyndebourne either.
A myth.
Completely untrue. There’s no mandatory dress requirement at Glyndebourne. Some people choose to dress up. I wore jeans. I’ve been to pubs with a more exclusive dress code.
(I’m guessing from your use of US terminology that you don’t have much experience of Glyndebourne or the UK opera scene generally).
Last week, we attended Glyndebourne on £32 tickets. My partner wore a new dj from a charity shop and I wore a velvet dress nearly new also from a charity shop. We nad a wonderful time.
@Anon: And which receives absolutely no government funding.
They and you have the imagination of ashtrays.
@George: Are you so thick you actually believe the kr@p you write? Brainwashed fool.
Your comments are so out of touch it is hard to believe. It is not only the rich who go to see and hear opera. I am a retired school teacher and enjoy the experience of opera when I get the opportunity.
Climate change is a hoax, and “fossil fuels” don’t come from fossils. Congratulations on being a deluded conformist. And are you still wearing a Fauci mask?
Stupid, ignorant comment. Before moving too far away from Glyndebourne to make a visit practical, I attended many performances for many years, since the opening of the refurbished opera house…for only £10 for a standing place – and I’m very far from ‘the wealthy elite’!
They just attacked the only opera house on earth to be powered 100% by renewable energy (from its own wind turbine).
Got to love posh-kid protesters. Not the brightest, clearly, but full marks for irresponsibility and entitlement.
Perfect comment.
If anyone let off a glitter cannon near me, they would get kick up the arse like Bishop Brennan.
White middle class twerps who think that they are frightfully clever by glueing themselves to masterpieces, and roads and disrupting performances. What larks! Cretins. You never, ever, ever, achieve anything by being negative. Do something positive and you might be respected.
For all you sanctimonious, virtue-signalling, pseudo-intellectual musicians out there: how many of you changed your profile pics and pledged support to this crap on social media are now throwing a fit ’cause they’ve come for your lil’ ol’ sacred cow?
Bit of a damp squib. Mummy and Daddy had presumably given Tarquin and Jocasta their front row seats.
They let off the confetti gun and honked their horn and were bundled out to the sound of mass disapproval and obloquy.
Felt sorry for Robin Ticciati with his back turned to them, must have given him a shock, but the show resumed quite quickly.
Result? More semi-influential people turned against the cause as it is so childishly executed.
Unless… Mark Berry, is that you?
(He has a little more time on his hands these days…)
The irony being that Glyndebourne have had their own wind turbine generating part of their energy needs for many years and were well ahead of the game in doing so.
George keep his Marxist nonsense to himself Why don’t these idiots fly to China and protest at Tiananmen square against the largest polluter in the world. How about going to Davos and protesting against the billionaires who fly in on private jets like John Kerry who recently stated farmers need to reduce their output to fight climate change? Maybe he wants to solve population problems like Stalin did in the Ukraine in the 1930s or Mao in the 1960s.
In the interests of achieving cultural balance, will the virtuous Just Stop Oil touring troupe be planning a similar cabaret interlude on the main stage at the upcoming Glastonbury Festival? I doubt it somehow…
#JustStopOil I am all for the #environment but this is not good activism! You’re not helping our cause with these idiotic actions that create nothing but backlash.
https://slippedisc.com/2023/06/breaking-climate-protesters-disrupt-glyndebourne//
#ClimateCrisis
On a Classic FM news slot yesterday, Nicholas Kenyon said it was “a very serious opera” so had it been Die Fledermaus I guess it wouldn’t have mattered…
These protesters are idiots, it would seem. Do any of them actually stop to think of just what oil is used for in the same world they share with the rest of us? I bet they’re all surrounded by as much plastic – produced from oil – in their homes as anyone else. They all probably contact each other on Smartphones, use Computers and Laptops, all using plastic-based materials. How do they travel, I wonder? Cars and buses need oil. Oh yes, and what do they think lubricates their precious wind turbines? A little bit of worldly education might serve these hypocrites well. I’m sick of hearing about these people ruining things for the rest of us.
Even they got so enough of Ticciati’s “conducting” that they had to interrupt it with the excuse of being oil protestors