The Sussex-based opera company Glyndebourne has announced it will no longer tour in 2023 following significant cuts to its Arts Council England (ACE) funding last year.

Forming a significant part of its work, Glyndebourne’s Autumn tour has taken opera to broad audiences around the country since 1968. But this year it has lost half of its funding as Arts Council England responded to government instruction to redirect finding to support other regions with less good artistic provision - a decision which has been described by Glyndebourne’s Managing Director Richard Davidson-Houston as ‘contradictory’.

Removing the tour comes also following some years of company losses. With more focus on the company’s summer Glyndebourne Festival, the organisation has been exploring alternative ways to make touring financially viable, without success.

Artistic Director of Glyndebourne Stephen Langridge said: ‘It is a huge blow to have to cancel our tour in 2023 which would have taken us to Liverpool, Canterbury, Norwich and Milton Keynes’. He added, ‘This would have seen hundreds of children singing with the Glyndebourne Chorus, workshops in care homes and chamber music recitals in universities.’

The decision to cut Glyndebourne’s tour follows an announcement from the Welsh National Opera in November, who said it was cancelling planned performances in Liverpool after its own ACE funding was cut by 35%. London’s Royal Opera House also had its funding cut by 10% and the ENO (English National Opera) had its annual funding cut to zero and asked to relocate out of London in order to be eligible for future ACE grants.

Glyndebourne assures the industry that it intends to continue work supporting emerging professionals. Langridge spoke about Glyndebourne’s goals in place of the Autumn tour: ‘We will continue our tradition of performing full-scale opera and concerts in the autumn… and build on our longstanding talent development and learning and engagement activity as part of our mission to enrich the lives of as many people as possible through opera.’