An Exclusive Opera Institution Force To Advertise

Glyndebourne is the UK’s most exclusive festival. So why is it advertising? This year “for the first time, Glyndebourne promoted its festival season. Indeed, it actually placed – shudder at the vulgarity – discreet advertisements. Why place the ad now? Well, last year Glyndebourne underperformed at the box office. This seems odd, since tickets are famously hard to come by. Traditionally, most are snapped up by festival society members, who have priority booking. However, when a faintly unconventional season such as last year’s (which featured two rarely performed works and a much-seen revival) was not leapt upon by the Glyndebourne faithful, the public didn’t even know about it.”

Stuck With The Tux – Orchestra Fails To Find Alternative Concert Wear

Britain’s Halle Orchestra had hoped to find a new concert costume for its players – something not so stiff and formal. “But for the 2003-04 season, details of which were announced yesterday, the Hallé’s men will continue to wear the white ties and tails that males have worn for 150 years. ‘We have talked about this a lot. But we got stuck. We could not really find a practical alternative’.”

Security Scandal At Austrian Museum Results In Major Theft

Security at the Austrian museum where a valuable Celline was stolen last weekend was lax to the point of absurdity. “The Florentine set, valued at about ?50m (£35m), was stolen at about 4am on Sunday. The burglary was bold, but accomplished with ease. Entry through a first-floor window was aided by some convenient scaffolding and the thief then smashed the unprotected glass display case. Entry to escape with the exquisite 25cm object can have taken no more than 54 seconds, according to a police reconstruction. Halfway through that brief period the museum’s alarm system rang. The guard switched it off – before it could have alerted the police – assuming that it was yet another false alarm of the type that occurs in the museum once a week on average. It was left to a cleaning lady to discover the theft more than four hours after the event.”