since the beginning of the genocide against ethnic tutsis and moderate hutus. and a man who has been running the entire length of africa in a mammoth challenge across 16 countries, has reached the finish line of his year long quest. now on bbc news... take me to the opera — the power of glyndebourne. i've been an opera fan for decades, and i want to share my passion with you. so i'm on a mission to find out how opera is reinventing itself for the 21st century. this time i go to glyndebourne in the english countryside to find out why it's a unique place that offers more than opera. we've got beautiful grounds and gardens and lakes, a wonderful visual art gallery and then a wonderful opera.

glyndebourne may be a historic venue, but it is also trying to make opera fit for the future by being a pioneer in sustainability. we were the first arts organisation to put up a wind turbine. we're running on wind. glyndebourne, as an icon in operatic sustainability, has really got a very strong place. and glyndebourne is embracing a drive towards greater diversity. it's about making sure that diverse communities have access to opera. if we keep opening the door, more people will come into it. but does innovation, sustainability and diversity matter, or do audiences really only care about great opera performances? let me take you to the opera.

glyndebourne in sussex, about 150 kilometres south of london, is a popular destination for thousands of opera lovers every year. they sing operatically. as well as opera, audiences can take a stroll, have a picnic in the beautiful grounds, they can visit a magnificent stately home and admire contemporary art at the site's gallery, which this season features the award—winning artist lubaina himid, with six of her paintings inspired by opera.

glyndebourne summer festival is a highlight of the opera calendar. the quality of the music isjust phenomenal. i love the setting and the fact that you can sit out here and sort of dress up and drink champagne. a day of coming together and enjoying not only world class opera, but alsojust being in this lovely setting in the countryside. for nearly a century, glyndebourne has been proving how opera can be enjoyed in a rural setting away from grand theatres in city centres. a lot of people find crossing the threshold of an opera house quite difficult because it does seem rather daunting. so to have opera in these amazing different spaces gives you a lot more flexibility as to how you engage and experience with things. glyndebourne grew out of a family passion.

the first summer festival in 193a was the brainchild of local landownerjohn christie and his wife audrey mildmay, the english born canadian soprano. the family tradition was continued by their son, george, and now their grandson, gus, who runs glyndebourne, lives on the grounds with his wife, the celebrated australian american soprano danielle de niese. my dad turned it from being a sort of a country house homespun festival into a world renowned international festival. he knocked down the theatre that his dad had built and he rebuilt the current theatre, which is a 1,200 seater, in the early '90s. and do you have any plans for its evolution? well, you have to have an eye for tradition on the past, but you have to keep relevant. it's about putting on fantastic world class, transformative operas.

it's about nurturing young talent. that is the same, but if you want to attract the next generation of audiences in, you cannot keep performing in the same way with traditional sets and costumes. we update shows, we challenge and provoke. so, we're trying to kind of keep pace with the changing world, but maintaining our traditions. the second world war put a temporary stop to performances, and the house itself played a part in the war effort. glyndebourne opened its doors to evacuee children. so, we had over 300 evacuee children staying with us. as archivists here, you get to see all sorts of historical pictures. i mean, does that give you a bit of a buzz? it really does. we've got incredible photos of audience members. the amazing thing about glyndebourne

is you look at these photos and not much has changed. i think art, opera, nature has always been like a core trinity for glyndebourne. and what about singers who've performed here? i suppose the biggest singer is pavarotti himself, who performed here in idomeneo. sings operatically. one notable glyndebourne performer is danielle de niese. sweeping strings. sings operatically. dani de niese is a phenomenal talent, as we all know. she brings this incredible stage personality, which is full of fizz and charisma, and she brings a wonderful voice, of course, she's a great

communicator on stage and she acts really well. and it's that combination that people really love when they see her on stage. danielle was born in australia to sri lankan parents of partial european descent. at the age of nine, she was the youngest winner of a national tv talent competition. when you look at my career, because i started so young, it looks like everything happened quite fast. but given that i already knew from eight i wanted to be an opera singer and i was doing piano and theory from seven and voice lessons from eight, in some way, i was, like, being steadily prepared for being able to accomplish my dreams already, just kind of ahead of everybody else. the family moved to los angeles in america when she was about ten and she started singing professionally as a teenager. i was very fortunate that my parents made lots of sacrifices over the years to be able to get me the best training

that would allow me to fulfill this dream. rapid strings play. i can talk about performing at glyndebourne in a non—biased way because i was here for two whole seasons before gus and i became a couple, so... it's a beautifully seamless transition between the rehearsal room and the stage because the theatre has such an incredible acoustic. we are set in this incredibly idyllic countryside setting and you are just breathing in so much inspiration. it puts you in a different mindset, i think. performers are getting ready for this year's summer festival at glyndebourne and i've been invited to rehearsals for a much loved and well known classic that is very suited to this venue. percussive music plays.

the summer 2023 festival features a midsummer night's dream by the british composer benjamin britten. it was first performed here at glyndebourne in 1981, and there's a strong theme of nature in the production. this bewitching opera is a dark interpretation of shakespeare's comic play, in which four athenian lovers are lost in an enchanted forest ruled by malicious fairies. piano chords play. # hail, mortal!# this is one of the trees that our tree actors will stand in. they have a black catsuit

that's covered in vines, and they have these amazing tree boots, which are very heavy. very heavy. and they slide very slowly across the floor. singing the role of titania, queen of the fairies, is the american soprano ms redpath. it's her first time performing at glyndebourne. i'm a little bit nervous, but only out of respect for how great this place is. i feel lucky to have titania be my debut here. it's such a perfect role in terms of personality and diversity of kind of the character itself.

one of the most loved roles in a midsummer night's dream is titania's love interest, the comic character bottom, whose head is transformed into that of a donkey. this year, it's being performed by american bass baritone brandon seidel. the first time you put on the donkey head, it's a little, it's hot first and foremost, and it's a little overwhelming. but then there's plenty of time to adjust. rehearsing is a joy and it's so exciting to kind of bear witness to what everyone does here. and something that glyndebourne does that i think is fantastic is that every part of the house operates on the highest level. so you feel the energy that the costume designers and the set designers and the wig department and makeup department, everyone wants to do their best. executive chairman gus christie and his team at glyndebourne want to deliver the best. but to do so with an eye

to the environment. they believe they are trailblazers for sustainability in the opera world. at the turn of the century, really, it became apparent to me we were facing a problem with climate change and global warming. we're fortunate that we have a hill nearby us where we could put a turbine and there's a cable that runs down to our energy centre and it powers the whole place. we're running on wind. this year we saved ourselves £1,000,000 in electricity bills. do you absolutely power glyndebourne totally with that? totally. with one wind turbine. even your home on the grounds? even my home on the grounds, yeah. the wind turbine was really the catalyst of setting us off down the sustainability route and it went up in 2012. and since then we have created an environmental champions group around the company. so everyone is invested into how

to reduce our carbon emissions. we are zero waste to landfill now. so any, any waste we have goes down to this local incinerator which provides power for local homes. we compost all our garden waste. we recycle as much of our stage set material, costumes, props. we have about 32 electric vehicle charging points, which are all charged from the wind turbine. just down this little route here, which is rather spectacular, we have put in a wild beehive. glyndebourne is also making costumes in a more environmentally friendly way by using dye from plants grown in their gardens. we have leaves, we have roots, we have flowers, we've got pine bark here. we soak them, we boil them, and we use a mordant to fix it into the fabric.

and then you get this selection of colours. yeah, we've got a lovely selection and we can use them quite often in choruses in opera. we're trying this season especially to really bring it into every production. i'd like to reach for these before i reach for a chemical product. it'sjust better for the environment. the rivers around the world are polluted by dyes a lot. this way everything goes back into the ground. our carbon footprint is much smaller because people are bringing it straight from the gardens to us here. i think it's very important that that we have this sustainability drive for the next generation of opera—goers. opera is a 400—year—old art form, and we can't sit on our laurels and hope that people will come. so how does glyndebourne�*s environmental record measure up in the performing arts?

alison tickell runs a london based charity working on climate action across the culture sector. it is a hard industry because it is associated with lavish productions, with really big opera houses and with an audience that has expectations of very high production values. so the challenges are quite big in opera. it was a slow starter, but we're now seeing some really fantastic action. i think glyndebourne�*s reputation in terms of being innovative, in terms of sustainable practice is warranted because it has done a huge range of practical on site issues, to the point where it can genuinely say that environmental sustainability and action on the climate crisis is a core value. but i think it also has that fantastic totemic wind turbine, which is this beacon of both beauty and also hope. and i know that many opera

companies, many cultural organisations don't have the luxury of the space, but it still remains a beacon for us all and has done for well over a decade now, that climate action really matters. i would love to think that audiences really care about the climate crisis. i suspect that, just like in most other areas, there's a generational difference. young people really mind because it's their futures, it's their world. as well as sustainability, glyndebourne is committed to widening the operatic talent pool.

danielle de niese is patron of pegasus opera company in london, which provides opportunities for diverse artists. they make great efforts to open up their casting process to a wide range of great artists who happen to be of colour or any kind of mixed race background. glyndebourne runs an annual mentorship programme with pegasus. the artistic director of pegasus is soprano alison buchanan, the only black woman to hold such a post at an opera company in the uk. the glyndebourne pegasus mentorship scheme is a wonderful thing because pegasus opera advocates for and represents singers of colour who don't get opportunities

in this opera industry. i find that a lot of these young artists and even more seasoned artists who are not getting the opportunities to hone their craft need a way to do that. it's getting better, but it's still challenging. we're opening up our minds as a society to the idea of there being barriers to people because of their ethnicity or their background or their upbringing. i carry that with great pride, obviously, that i'm sitting here today, being a diverse person. we need to stretch our reach a lot further. it's very, very important that we expose our young talent to the best that the business has to offer. it's a really bespoke programme of coaching opportunities, mentoring opportunities and access to a wide

variety of highly skilled professionals that will only add to the young skillsets of these artists. these two young singers performing with pegasus have applied for a place on the mentorship programme with glyndebourne and are eagerly awaiting to find out if they've been successful. it'd be great to get a position on the programme because it would be a brilliant opportunity to work with so many different people in the industry and to learn and work on my own craft as well. i think i would just go there and just learn as much as i can and i think it would be very beneficial for my career. it's performance evening for a midsummer night's dream, and the audience are starting to arrive to enjoy the full glyndebourne experience.

amongst them are carlos and jasmine, who are among four lucky singers chosen for the glyndebourne mentorship programme. hello. afternoon. it's very nice to meet you. i'm danielle. i'mjasmine. hi, jasmine. lovely to meet you. welcome to glyndebourne. you. thank you. what has it meant to you to be involved in a programme like this? it has been amazing to be part of how everything works and getting to know everyone. it's like an honour tojust see how much work goes into all of it - and really exciting to know i can be a part of that someday. _ i think it's so important that young singers like you guys have access to that, that you can like raise your skillsets and become even better artists. shall we head over to the theatre? yes. come with me. orchestra tunes up.

they sing operatically. i've been so mesmerized by the costumes, the set, the lighting, the singing. has it made you both more excited about getting on a stage like here at glyndebourne? definitely. i'm sat there just, like, mentally taking notes.

right, this is the next thing i need to learn. i've always looked up to glyndebourne as one of the world's leading opera houses and festivals, and it'sjust amazing that i can be part of what happens here. cheering and applause. my time here at glyndebourne has really made me see how opera can be so much more than wonderful music, singing and staging. it can be a whole experience to enjoy the english countryside, gourmet food and great art — and all in a historic venue that offers solutions to the challenges of the 21st century, such as diversity and sustainability. and i really hope that audiences here appreciate that opera can both entertain and be a positive force for good.

hello. that set to turn very windy as we head into the weekend. however towards the end of the week

we are set to see something milder return for some of us, something to look forward to. before that though we have this deepening low—pressure to the south—west and that's going to the south—west and that's going to bring more wet to come. gail forced force gusts of wind, heaviest of the reined up to the south—west moving up through wales and through the irish sea. also be a spell of showery rain pushing across the midlands into east anglia as well. highest temperatures through monday afternoon, 17 degrees. now the heaviest of the rain looks likely to develop monday evening and overnight, so we'll see a spell of wet weather which will linger for a time across northern england and southern scotland, so that is going to continue to be a feature, and as that low—pressure continues to drift north and east we see the wind direction changing, a northwesterly, and that northwesterly is going to push the milder air back over into eastern europe, somewhat cooler conditions set to take over. so tuesdayis

conditions set to take over. so tuesday is not going to be a particularly pleasant day, there will be a lot of heavy rain across much of scotland, northern england for a time and plenty of showers for the south. the winds quite strong, gusts of wind quite widely a0 mph plus in places. a windy day, a cooler day because of the source of that wind as well, 8—12 at the very best. moving out of tuesday into the early hours of wednesday we started out quiet, more what weather will arrive from the west, that's going to bring some rain into northern island, western fringes of scotland, down through wills, south—west england. strongest across eastern scotland and eastern england, heaviest of the rain for the north and west, still cool, 8—12 , maximum ofjust 1a. but as we move into thursday and that front clears away, a quieter spell of weather as high pressure trying to build in from europe and that has the potential to

allow this warmer south—westerly airflow to squeeze its back way back across the country. there's a potential for a lot of cloud around on thursday, on the whole will be dryer with just a few isolated showers. there will be some breaks and sunshine coming through and temperatures will be respond, 19 perhaps somewhere across the east anglia. out of thursday into friday, that high—pressure is going to hang onto the south that means the wettest of the weather as we look further ahead is always likely to be the for north and west, wintry precipitation to higher ground from time to time as we see some cooler spells of weather, but all in all it is not going to be quite as severe as it has been, back to something more typical of aprils lunch sounds and showers with potential for warmth across southern parts of england. that's it, take care.

live from london, this is bbc news. israel says it has withdrawn nearly all ground troops from southern gaza to regroup for the next stage of war. six months on since the attacks, tens of thousands rally injerusalem and other cities to call on the government to reach a deal to free the hostages. hopes for new round of ceasefire talks, amid warnings of catastrophic levels of hunger in gaza and an imminent famine. as millions prepare for the solar eclipse in north america, we look at how to safely watch the total blackout.

and a man who has been running the entire length of the african continent in a mammoth challenge taking him across 16 countries, has reached the finish line of his year long quest. hello. the israeli military says it has withdrawn all its ground troops, apart from one brigade from southern gaza, to focus on other offensives including rafah. it's six months since hamas gunmen stormed into southern israel, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping more than 250. the attack sparked what's become the deadliest and most destructive israel—gaza war, killing over 33,000 palestinians. our international editor, jeremy bowen, has more from jerusalem