For two days in March, Opera Saratoga will hold local auditions for the 2025 Summer Festival Season and beyond, in order to create a local roster of affiliated singers, actors and pianists. "There is a tremendous resource in the Capital Region that we want to tap into: the artists who live and work here" says General and Artistic Director Mary Birnbaum, who also serves on the faculty of The Juilliard School, "this wealth of talent should be elevating the work of Opera Saratoga, the Capital Region's only professional opera company.”

Head of Music Staff Laurie Rogers and General and Artistic Director Mary Birnbaum will hear auditions on Friday, March 21 from 10-5 pm at Elisabeth Luce Moore Recital Hall at Skidmore and Saturday, March 22 from 10-5 pm at the Gideon Putnam Room at the Saratoga Spa State Park. The Skidmore space was generously provided by soprano and voice teacher Sylvia Stoner-Hawkins, on faculty at Skidmore.

For an audition slot, email [email protected]. Auditioners who are singers/actors are asked to bring an aria, classical song or musical theater piece of 5 minutes or less in duration with printed sheet music for the pianist. Actors who are interested in auditioning can prepare a monologue. Pianists should prepare the accompaniment to an aria or art song, and should be prepared to sight read.

Not a singer/actor or pianist but an artist, artisan or crew member interested in working with Opera Saratoga? Email us at [email protected] to get involved!

Opera Saratoga's 64th Annual Summer Festival will run from May 20-June 29 and feature 15 performances at the Spa State Park, Mansion of Saratoga, Saratoga Winery, and Universal Preservation Hall. Mainstage productions include La Vie Parisienne (music by Jacques Offenbach, lyrics by Ludovic Halévy and Henri Meilhac, and English dialogue by Tim Drucker) and She Loves Me (music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick and book by Joe Masteroff). More information can be found at operasaratoga.org.

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, who has revitalized the company’s education program and placed an emphasis on producing work by female composers. For more information, visit www.operasaratoga.org

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.
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• March 21
  and every day until March 22nd

  March 21, 2025
• Various Locations
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