Under the supervision of the Christie family, the festival has been held annually since 1934, except in 1941–45 during World War II and 1993 when the theatre was being rebuilt, for a 1994 reopening.

[11] In August 2018, the festival announced the appointment of Stephen Langridge as its next artistic director, effective in the spring of 2019.

[13] The festival has planned to incorporate power by wind turbine, as part of its "green" initiatives.

Performances start in the afternoon, enabling Londoners to leave town after lunch, and finish in time for them to catch the last train back.

A long interval allows opera-goers the opportunity for picnic dinners on the extensive lawns or in one of the restaurants in the grounds.

In January 2023, the company announced that the planned 2023 Glyndebourne on Tour season will not occur, as a result of the reduced funding from Arts Council England for the 2023–2026 National Portfolio.

It has a wholly owned subsidiary, Glyndebourne Enterprises Limited, which carries out merchandising, production hire and media development activities, and donates its profits to the charity.

Commercial releases have included Mozart's Idomeneo (with Luciano Pavarotti and Gundula Janowitz), Dvořák's Rusalka and Benjamin Britten's Billy Budd.