The death of former chairman Sir George Christie last week has cast a shadow over Glyndebourne’s 80th anniversary celebrations – but his influence will be felt this year.

“Sir George was still very much a presence at Glyndebourne,” says dramaturg Cori Ellison, adding he had been present on the first day of rehearsals for this year’s season, where designers and directors introduced their plans for each production.

“We were hoping to celebrate his 80th birthday with the anniversary season, but instead we are dedicating this season to him.”

This season marks 80 years since Sir George’s parents John Christie and opera singer Audrey Mildmay opened the first opera house in their country estate in Firle, near Lewes, and 20 years since the launch of the current 1,200-capacity venue.

A theme running throughout the festival programme is that of celebration.

“The operas don’t all end happily, but they all have festive elements about them and highlight what Glyndebourne is great at,” says Ellison, whose role at the opera house includes writing specialist content for the programme, supporting the creative teams and leading pre-performance talks and study events.

“Glyndebourne is renowned for its ensemble voices, the careful preparation, the production style, and the variety of its repertoire, with a specialisation in Mozart.”

As an opera house which started out focusing almost entirely on Mozart, it’s unsurprising the Austrian’s work features twice in the 2014 programme, including the premiere of an opera penned before the composer was 19.

“We couldn’t perform La Finta Giardiniera for many years because the score was lost,” explains Ellison, adding it was only pieced together in the 1980s.

“It’s one of the first where you start to hear the genius of the mature Mozart we all know and love of Don Giovanni and Marriage Of Figaro fame.”

Glyndebourne is also reviving its 2011 production of Don Giovanni for the anniversary season – one of a series of ‘greatest hits’-style revivals.

This weekend’s 1994 production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin received stellar reviews on its debut, and the school-set 2011 version of Handel’s Rinaldo which closes the season has another stylistic twist this year.

“When this production ran in 2011 there were four roles by female mezzo sopranos,” says Ellison. “This time we have four male counter tenors.

When Handel was writing he would use the best singing actors around at the time."

Opening the season is a new production of Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, which will be conductor Robin Ticciati’s debut production as musical director.

“It’s a festive opera, so it’s a particularly nice opening opera for the 80th anniversary,”

says Ellison, adding Strauss was hugely influenced by Mozart’s Marriage Of Figaro.

“It's an opera that doesn't often come out as much as people would like as it is a lavish piece – it needs a big orchestra, cast and scenery. It also talks about the passage of time – the character of Marschallin says how it seems like yesterday she was a young girl and before she knows it people will be referring to her as ‘old Marschallin’.”

The 80th anniversary season in full:

Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier
Saturday, May 17 to Thursday, July 3, 4.35pm (3.20pm Sundays), from £15

NEW production directed by Richard Jones, conducted by Glyndebourne’s new musical director Robin Ticciati featuring Kate Royal, Tara Erraught and Teodora Gheorghiu with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin
Sunday, May 18, to Friday, July 11, 5.05pm, (3.50pm Sundays), from £15

REVIVAL of Graham Vick’s 1994 production conducted by Omer Meir Wellber and starring Andrei Bondarenko and Ekaterina Scherbachenko.

Mozart’s Don Giovanni
Saturday, June 7, to Friday, August 1, 5.10pm, (3.55pm Sunday), from £10

REVIVAL of the 2011 production by Jonathan Kent with Elliot Madore as Ramiro and Andres Orozco-Estrada conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera
Saturday, June 28, to Thursday, August 21, 5.05pm, (3.50pm Sundays), from £10

NEW production of Mozart’s early opera directed by Frederic Wake-Walker with Robin Ticciati conducting the Orchestra Of The Age Of Enlightenment, and Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke, Christiane Karg, Joelle Harvey and Gyula Orendt in the lead roles.

Verdi’s La Traviata
Thursday, July 17, to Saturday, August 23, 5.50pm, (4.35pm Sundays), from £15

TOM Cairns is directing the first La Traviata staged at Glyndebourne since 1988, with Sir Mark Elder conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and Russian soprano Venera Gimadieva making her Glyndebourne debut.

Handel’s Rinaldo
Saturday, August 9, to Sunday, August 24, 5pm, (3.45pm Sundays), from £10

THE return of Robert Carsen’s 2011 production with Ottavio Dantone conducting the Orchestra Of The Age Of Enlightenment, and a cast including countertenors Iestyn Davies, Tim Mead, Anthony Roth Costanzo and James Laing.

  • Tickets from www.glyndebourne.com or 01273 815000.