Saratoga Springs, NY (February 18, 2025) - “This summer’s festival will transport audiences around the world for two sensational classics which give young singers a chance to shine” says General and Artistic Director Mary Birnbaum, “and two new operas which challenge audiences’ notions of what opera means today. We’ll go on an exhilarating, romantic journey from Saratoga Springs and back again.”

Offenbach, Meilhac & Halévy’s sparkling, witty, and electric La Vie Parisienne will be conducted by Juliane Gallant in her US debut, directed by Mary Birnbaum, this production will be sung in French with new english dialogue by Tim Drucker (Trixie and Katya). The cast will be led by Randy Ho (Raoul de Gardefeu), Michael Hawk (Bobinet), Tivoli Treloar (Metella), Chase Sanders (La Baronne de Gondremarck), Geoffrey Schmelzer (Le Baron de Gondremarck) and Sung-yeun Kim (Gabrielle). With scenic design by Krit Robinson and lighting design by Anshuman Bhatia.
With four performances at Universal Preservation Hall:
June 20, 26 & 28 at 7:30 pm and June 22 at 2:00 pm. 

Offenbach’s romp runs in repertory with Bock, Harnick & Masteroff’s jewel-box musical She Loves Me. Directed by John Giampietro and conducted by Steven Jamail, the cast features Jarrett Porter (Georg Nowack), Christine Taylor Price (Amalia Balash), Shavon Lloyd (Steven Kodaly), Kate Morton (Ilona Ritter), Michael Segura (Ladislav Sipos), Jack O’Leary (Arpad Lazlo) and Peter Kazaras (Mr. Maraczek). With scenic design by Krit Robinson and lighting design by Anshuman Bhatia.
With five performances at Universal Preservation Hall:
June 21, 25, 27 at 7:30 pm and June 28 & 29 at 2:00 pm

Earlier in the month, the company will produce a site-specific installation of In a Grove composed by Chris Cerrone with libretto by Stephanie Fleischmann. This operatic adaptation of Akutagawa’s classic short story “In a Grove” which inspired the plot of Kurosawa’s renowned film Rashomon, offers a searing investigation into the impossibility and elusiveness of truth. The New York Times deemed the opera: “A vividly immersive thriller about the nature of truth and memory. Not a word or note is without dramaturgical purpose.” The outdoor performance will be conducted by Luke Poeppel, and feature Sadie Spivey, Geoffrey Schmelzer, Wagner Mauricio Pastor, Shavon Lloyd, Randy Ho, Chase Sanders and Chuanyuan Liu. Sound design by Sam Torres.
With four performances at the Ferndell Pavilion in Saratoga Spa State Park:
May 28 at 5:00 pm, 7:00 pm, and May 29 at 5:00 pm, 7:00 pm
Rain date: May 31 at 5:00 pm and 7:00 pm

Finally, the company will produce a work-in-progress presentation of composer Emma O’Halloran and librettist Naomi O’Connell’s A Mass for Women in Bathrooms. This opera-theater work for three singers, an actress and electronic sound design by Alex Dowling reframes the structure of the Irish Catholic Mass to tell an intimate family story of three sisters and their mother. A story born from personal experience, A Mass for Women in Bathrooms examines themes of infertility, reproductive rights, and dementia, while reclaiming bodily autonomy for women in a historically violent space. Featuring Chase Sanders, Sadie Spivey and Brennan Martinez. This project is funded in part by the Arts Council of Ireland.
With two work-in-progress performances at Universal Preservation Hall:
June 22 at 7:30 pm and June 27 at 2:00 pm.

Festival Special Events include:

Songs of Travel from the Great American Songbook features Festival Artists at the Mansion of Saratoga. This concert, entitled "Songs of Travel" features 18 young singers who will transport you all around the world with songs and arias while you enjoy the beautiful back deck of the Mansion of Saratoga and a delicious lunch or dinner provided by chef Rick Bieber during the show. Those who purchase elite tickets in the front rows will be treated to a complimentary beverage and a special treat. Swoon to songs like "Come Fly with Me", "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe", "The Trolley Song", "Surrey with a Fringe" and more! Tickets include a delicious buffet lunch/dinner. Buffet opens one hour before the performance begins. Premium tickets include a beverage and a sweet treat! Two concerts on June 1 at 12pm (with lunch) and 5pm (with dinner).

At the Saratoga Winery, the 18 festival artists will perform in Festival Artist Portrait Concerts. Catch rising opera singers as they delve deep into who they are in musical portraits of their own making. Each concert features 9 festival artists in their most core repertoire, from operatic arias to cultural songs to their own compositions. Join us for two incredible evenings of discovery and musical-soul-searching at the stunning Saratoga Winery, while you enjoy food and beverages. Two concerts, each featuring 9 festival artists, June 4 and 11 at 7pm at Saratoga Winery.

Free for kids, Family Performances of songs and scenes from La Vie Parisienne
and She Loves Me will delight and inspire young ones and their parents. A pre-show that features collaborations with the Children’s Museum of Saratoga and Saratoga Tea and Honey.
With two performances at Universal Preservation Hall, June 21 and 24 at 11am.

Opera Saratoga’s Gala, an Evening in Paris, will be held at Saratoga National Golf Club at 5pm on Sunday, June 15.

Single tickets are now on sale
More information about subscription packages will be available on operasaratoga.org
To buy tickets, visit Proctors.org or call 518-346-6204
For more information, email [email protected]

Locations:
Universal Preservation Hall
25 Washington Street
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

Ferndell Pavilion
Spa State Park
North South Road
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

ABOUT OPERA SARATOGA:
Opera Saratoga, formerly known as Lake George Opera, began with a production of Die Fledermaus at the Diamond Point Theatre on July 5, 1962, playing to an audience of 230. The Company now calls Saratoga Springs home and performs for more than 25,000 people annually. Opera Saratoga celebrates its 60th Anniversary this season. The company serves the communities of Saratoga Springs, the Lower Adirondack and New York State Capital areas by providing access to world-class opera through the production of an annual Summer Festival, as well as year-round activities including extensive educational programs, mentorship of emerging operatic artists, and unique opportunities for the public to experience opera in both our home theater and non-traditional venues that leverage and embrace the unique cultural, historic, and natural resources of the area. To date, the company has performed 108 different fully staged works by 69 different composers, including 44 works by American composers and 15 premiere productions. In 2023, the company hired its 10th Artistic and General Director, Mary Birnbaum. For more information, visit www.operasaratoga.org

ABOUT JOHN MATSUMOTO GIAMPIETRO:
John Matsumoto Giampietro is a Brooklyn based stage director of Opera and Theatre, an educator, and writer. John is a Vocal Arts Acting Faculty member and stage director at The Juilliard School where he teaches acting across all degree programs. He is also a faculty member of The Curtis Institute of Music where he teaches acting in the Vocal Studies and Opera Theater Department. He is a frequent director with Youngblood, Ensemble Studio Theater’s Obie-award-winning young writers group. At EST, John directed the NY Times acclaimed production ofYear of the Rooster by Olivia Dufault. He was the Interim and Associate Director of the Chautauqua Opera Conservatory, where he directed several operas including , The Cunning Little Vixen, Hänsel und Gretel, Le nozze di Figaro, La Boheme, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. John has directed opera and theatre at Tanglewood, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Urban Stages, Yale Opera, Vermont Shakespeare Festival, Curtis Institute of Music, The Flea Theatre, Shenandoah Conservatory and NYU Tisch School of the Arts, among others. His writing includes new English dialogue versions of Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor and The Impresario for Juilliard. His English dialogue version of Die Zauberflöte premiered at the Chautauqua Institution. His play Strength of God and other grotesques based on Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio, premiered at Joe's Pub @ The Public Theater in NYC.

ABOUT MARY BIRNBAUM:
Mary Birnbaum has directed opera and music theater around the world, including critically acclaimed productions of Rossi’s L’Orfeo (NYTimes Best of Classical Music 2021) Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up, and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at The Juilliard School and The Classical Style at Carnegie Hall. In 2024, Birnbaum debuted at the New York Philharmonic (Émigré) and the Lyric Opera of Chicago (Rigoletto). Birnbaum has also directed productions at Santa Fe Opera (La bohème, 2019), Seattle Opera, Bard Music Festival, Kentucky Opera, Virginia Arts Festival, Ojai Festival, Montclair Peak Performances, and Boston Baroque in the US, as well as in Opera Holland Park, Opéra de Versailles (Dido and Aeneas), Taiwan (with the National Symphony Orchestra), Central America (National Theatre of Costa Rica and Guatemala), Australia, and Israel. In demand for her skills as a collaborator on new works, Birnbaum has created world premieres by contemporary artists including Jeremy Denk, Steven Stucky, Frank London, Elise Thoron, Mark Campbell, Kristin Kuster, and Megan Levad. She directed the world premiere of In A Grove by Christopher Cerrone and Stephanie Fleischmann at Pittsburgh Opera. As a faculty member of The Juilliard School since 2011, Birnbaum teaches acting to singers and serves as Dramatic Advisor to the master’s degree candidates. She also coaches acting in the Lindemann Young Artists Program at The Metropolitan Opera. A graduate of Harvard College, Mary Birnbaum trained professionally in physical theater at L’école Jacques Lecoq in Paris.

ABOUT JULIANE GALLANT:
Canadian conductor Juliane Gallant is the Resident Conductor of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. She has appeared as guest conductor with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Victoria Symphony, PEI Symphony Orchestra, Okanagan Symphony Orchestra, Kingston Symphony Orchestra, and Symphony New Brunswick, and as assistant and cover conductor with many orchestras and opera companies across Canada. Initially a collaborative pianist, répétiteur, and vocal coach, Juliane began her conducting career in opera. She has led productions of Carmen, La bohème, Tosca, Eugene Onegin, La Traviata, Don Giovanni, and numerous others, both in Canada and in the UK. In 2021, she made her Royal Opera House debut in Mami Wata in collaboration with Pegasus Opera. Juliane is a graduate of the National Opera Studio, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Conservatoire de musique et d’art dramatique de Montréal, the University of Ottawa and the Université de Moncton. She is an alumna of Tapestry Opera’s Women in Musical Leadership Fellowship.

ABOUT PETER KAZARAS:
Peter Kazaras is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Music at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, where he served from 2007-2024 as the Inaugural Director of Opera at UCLA. A stage director and teacher, he was also Artistic Director of the Seattle Opera Young Artists Program from 2006 to 2013. As an operatic tenor, he performed worldwide at The Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, Vienna State Opera, L’Opéra National de Paris, and other venues. Recent directing assignments have taken him to Washington National Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Seattle Opera, Glimmerglass Festival, The Dallas Opera, the Merola Program at San Francisco Opera, and The Juilliard School. In the summer of 2018, he directed A Quiet Place for Tanglewood as part of the Bernstein Centennial celebration. Just before the pandemic shutdown, he directed a critically acclaimed new production of Samson et Dalila for Washington National Opera. Peter Kazaras has worked on numerous world premieres both as a singer and as a director. At UCLA, he directed, supervised, or produced over fifty productions, including the recent world premiere of The Grand Hotel Tartarus, with music and libretto by Richard Danielpour. A frequent panelist on the Toll Brothers Metropolitan Opera Quiz, Kazaras is also in demand as a judge for competitions, both national and international. He is working on several new operas as librettist, dramaturg, stage director, and producer.

ABOUT JARRETT PORTER:
Praised by Opera News for his “imposing baritone” and “supple vibrancy that he deploys with unaffected lyricism and manifest honesty,” American baritone Jarrett Porter is quickly garnering a reputation as a fearless talent and commanding intellect. As a newly minted member of the Ensemble at Oper Frankfurt, in 2024-2025, Porter will sing Wachmeister in a new production of Henze’s The Prince of Homburg, Ormonte in a new production of Handel’s Partenope and finally, a new production of Adolphe Adam’s Le Postillon de Lonjumeau in the role of the Marquis de Corcy. As a Guest, he will debut as Schaunard with Theater Bielefeld in La Bohème.

In the 2025 - 2026 Oper Frankfurt season, Porter makes his role debut as Ned Keene in Britten’s Peter Grimes, revives the role of Edgar which he created for the world premiere of Vito Zuraj’s Blühen (Opernwelt’s world premiere of the year in 2023), and sings Punch in Harrison Birtwistle’s Punch and Judy. Porter also brings Schubert’s Winterreise to the US in the Berkshires and Oklahoma City.

In previous seasons he has been seen as Valentin in Faust with the Berkshire Opera Festival (2024), and in Frankfurt he has been seen as Leone in Handel’s Tamerlano, Elviro in Handel’s Xerxes, Masetto in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, The Elder Son and The Herald in Britten’s The Prodigal Son / The Burning Fiery Furnace.

He created the role of Oliver Sacks in the world premiere of Tobias Picker’s Awakenings for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in 2022 to critical acclaim, and can be heard on the studio recording under the BMOP label. A new recording of Adolphe Adam’s Le Postillon de Lonjumeau will be released next fall by NAXOS with Jarrett as the Marquis de Corcy.

Porter is a graduate of the Artist Diploma in Opera Studies at The Juilliard School.

ABOUT TIM DRUCKER:
Tim Drucker is a New York-based director, playwright and producer. With over a decade and a half of experience in tentpole comedy events, touring, and nearly a dozen Off-Broadway productions, Tim is a respected fixture in the industry. He has directed national tours across North America, entertaining audiences in major venues such as the Kirk Douglas Theater in Los Angeles, Mirvish Theatre Group in Toronto, Broadway in Chicago, and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Tim has been privileged to work with some of the funniest talents across Broadway, film, and television. He continues to develop, direct and create new properties for commercial producers in both New York, Los Angeles and Canada. Tim specializes in developing new comedic work that resonates with audiences worldwide. With Bonnie Milligan, he is penning the book to the upcoming Hallmark holiday musical stage tour.

If you are interested in learning more about Opera Saratoga’s 2024 season, visit www.operasaratoga.org.

IN A GROVE is presented by arrangement with Schott Music Corporation, New York, publisher and copyright owner.

She Loves Me is licensed by Music Theater International (MTI).
(from )

• May 20
  and every day until June 29th

  May 20, 2025
• Opera Saratoga
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