Sunshine and clouds mixed. High near 30F. Winds light and variable..
Partly cloudy early with increasing clouds overnight. Areas of patchy fog. Low 11F. Winds light and variable.
Updated: December 25, 2024 @ 1:28 pm
The Alice Busch Opera Theater, home of Glimmerglass Festival, is shown in this 2015 photo.
The Alice Busch Opera Theater, home of Glimmerglass Festival, is shown in this 2015 photo.
The Glimmerglass Festival announced it “has programmed an exhilarating 50th anniversary season that centers artists and creators, celebrates opera and musical theater legends, and introduces a thrilling world premiere opera based on a beloved book.”
According to a media release, a world premiere, two company premieres and a revival of the company’s first commission for young people will be presented July 11 through Aug. 17. The season will open with “Tosca” by Giacomo Puccini, Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. “Sunday in the Park with George” by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, and “The Rake’s Progress” by Igor Stravinsky, W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman will also be performed.
“The Glimmerglass Festival has been a destination for people who love making art and people who love watching it on our stage, and we couldn’t be more excited to celebrate our 50th anniversary with a season that will offer an experience that goes beyond every expectation,” Artistic & General Director Rob Ainsley said in the release. “Glimmerglass is a destination that offers more than a night at the opera. It offers an experience in which every person that steps on our grounds can see themselves and their stories reflected.”
“As we celebrate our rich legacy and look toward an exciting future, I wanted to put artists front and center. Artists are leading characters in many of the stories you will see on our stage in 2025. I find it fascinating to consider these works now because they came at pivotal points in the careers of their creators. ‘Tosca’ was written on the heels of ‘La bohème,’ as Puccini’s 20-year-old opera career was finally starting to gain some momentum. When Sondheim started work on ‘Sunday,’ he had established himself as one of Broadway’s greats with ‘Sweeney Todd,’ ‘Company,’ and ‘Follies’ but had also just experienced critical and commercial failure for ‘Merrily We Roll Along.’ ‘The Rake’s Progress’ was one of the last works Stravinsky wrote in his neoclassical period, and his only opera.”
The season will also feature the world premiere of “The House on Mango Street,” based on the classic book, and a libretto by author Sandra Cisneros with a score by Grammy Award-nominee Derek Bermel, the release stated. The festival will bring former artistic director Francesca Zambello’s acclaimed original production of “Odyssey” (Moore/Rourke) to the Alice Busch Opera Theater for the first time. The first of six youth operas (and counting) commissioned by Glimmerglass, “Odyssey” has traveled to stages across the country in the years following its 2015 premiere.
“For our world premiere,” Ainsley said, “I turned to composer Derek Bermel and writer Sandra Cisneros, two enormously successful artists who are approaching opera for the first time. Success and failure, stylistic pivots and new horizons — these are part of the life of an artist, and the life of an arts institution. But even without the back stories, these are four terrific shows, and I can’t wait to see them on our stage.”
For the 50th anniversary season, internationally renowned scenic designer John Conklin, Glimmerglass associate artistic director emeritus, who was a steady presence at Glimmerglass for more than 30 years, has conceived a playing space that transforms to create a unique setting for each of the operas, while celebrating the architecture of the Alice Busch Opera Theater, according to the release.
Conklin said, “I have always regarded the intimate theater Hugh Hardy designed for Glimmerglass to be a home to a family of dedicated professionals who come together to learn from each other, from the operas we produce, and from the space itself. It is a space that I know well, and a space that still has much to teach us.”
Every mainstage production will be accompanied by the Glimmerglass Festival Orchestra and is staged in the Alice Busch Opera Theater.
The festival will offer a variety of free events throughout the season. Preview talks, held before every mainstage performance, offer audiences the chance to dive into the history of each production with conductors, directors, and music staff. Backstage tours explore the Alice Busch Opera Theater, scene shop and costume shop and are offered before every Saturday matinee. And Changeover Talks, held between Saturday matinee and evening performances, explain the complicated process of transitioning sets from one production to another as the audience watches the magic happen on stage.
In addition to regular festival programming, the 2025 season will offer a host of 50th anniversary-related events, talks, concerts, and meals. The full slate of 2025 special events, along with full season casting will be announced at a later date.
Ticket packages for the 2025 festival are available for purchase and single tickets will be on sale Jan. 27, 2025. Current ticket package holders can call the box office at 607-547-2255 to renew their packages.
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.
Sign up now to get our FREE breaking news coverage delivered right to your inbox.
First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.
We recommend switching to one of the following browsers:
