Batons drawn on summer lawns as opera rivals battle for audiences

Country house audiences are spoilt for choice this yearThe sound of great opera arias will vie with summer birdsong at a record number of country house venues over the next few months, as classical performers cater to a growing taste for formal evenings of music in a rural setting.This season two new contenders – one in Surrey, the other a reinvented opera festival in Hampshire – are challenging the busy country house scene, already well established at Glyndebourne in Sussex, at Worm