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.”