British sopranos Lucy Crowe and Emma Bell are making their role debuts as the Vixen and the Fox in The Cunning Little Vixen at Glyndebourne next year. The Janáček opera is one of three new productions for Glyndebourne’s 2012 season, which begins on May 20. Directed by Melly Still and conducted by musical director Vladimir Jurowski, it also features celebrated Russian baritone Sergei Leiferkus, who returns to Glyndebourne to play the Gamekeeper.

The season’s second new production includes last year’s Fiordilgi, Sally Matthews, making her debut as The Countess in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro. The production, by Michael Grandage, features the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Robin Ticciati, who takes over as Glyndebourne’s musical director in 2014. American mezzo Isabel Leonard makes her Glyndebourne debut as Cherubino.

The third new production, which coincides with the Olympics, is a double-bill of Ravel’s L’heure espagnole and L’enfant et les sortilèges. The operas are directed by Laurent Pelly and conducted by Kazushi Ono. French mezzo Stéphanie d’Oustrac, who made her Glyndebourne debut in Giulio Cesare in 2009, sings the role of Concepción in L’heure espagnole.

The first of the season’s three revivals is Rossini’s La Cenerentola, which features Sir Peter Hall’s 2005 staging revived by Lynne Hockney and is conducted by James Gaffigan. Chinese baritone Shenyang makes his Glyndebourne debut as Alidoro, and American mezzo Elizabeth DeShong stars as Angelina.

David McVicar’s 2000 Glyndebourne on Tour production of La bohème, revived by Lee Blakely, is conducted by Kirill Karabits. It features two BBC Cardiff Singer of the World winners, Russian soprano Ekaterina Scherbachenko, who won in 2009, as Mimi, and this year’s winner, Ukrainian baritone Andrei Bondarenko, as Marcello.

And finally, Jonathan Kent returns to Glyndebourne to revive his own hit 2009 production of Purcell’s The Fairy Queen (the DVD won a 2010 Gramophone Award). Laurence Cummings conducts the OAE and the cast includes Carolyn Sampson and 2007 John Christie Award-winner Peter Gijsbertsen.

Antony Craig