Noah Stewart, Deborah Voigt and More Join Glimmerglass Season

The Glimmerglass Festival, the Central New York summer opera and musical company, has announced its full schedule for the 2012 season, including concert performances by Eric Owens, Deborah Voigt and Dolora Zajick.

The Glimmerglass Festival mainstage productions are supplemented by special performances, concerts and lectures throughout the season. The mainstage productions include Verdi’s Aida, Willson’s The Music Man, Lully’s Armide and Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson’s Lost in the Stars. The productions run in rotation July 7 through August 25 in the Alice Busch Opera Theater in Cooperstown, New York.

“Opera as a vehicle for social awareness and change is not a new idea. Many composers spoke to the political and social issues of their time through their music – think of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, Beethoven’s Fidelio or the operas of Verdi’s middle years,” said Francesca Zambello, Artistic & General Director. “In putting together our 2012 season, I wanted to choose works that could inspire discussion about our world today. All of the ancillary programming – lectures, concerts and more – gives us opportunities to delve more deeply into these themes. “

SPECIAL CONCERTS

The 2012 Festival features four special concerts in its 914-seat Alice Busch Opera Theater, in addition to the mainstage productions.

American bass-baritone Eric Owens, who has performed to critical acclaim at Metropolitan, San Francisco and Washington National operas, joins the company as the 2012 Artist in Residence. In addition to his roles as Amonasro in Aida and Stephen Kumalo in Lost in the Stars, Owens will pay tribute to the great American singer and bandleader Billy Eckstine on July 27 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $25 to $50 and $10 for youths.

Deborah Voigt, who debuted her one-woman show Voigt Lessons at Glimmerglass last summer, returns for a recital that includes works by Strauss and Verdi on August 5 at 5:30 p.m. Voigt just performed in the complete Ring Cycle at the Metropolitan Opera, and has upcoming engagements with Minnesota Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Auckland Philharmonic. Tickets are $25 to $75 and $10 for youths.

Dolora Zajick and members of the Young Artists Program, the company’s apprenticeship for young singers, will perform selections from Maid of Orleans, Macbeth, Il Trovatore, Don Carlo, Adriana Lecouvreur and more in Women Obsessed and Possessed by Heaven and Hell on August 10 at 3 p.m. Known as a true dramatic Verdi mezzo-soprano, Zajick has sung Azucena in Il Trovatore, Amneris in Aida and Eboli in Don Carlo around the world with such companies as the Metropolitan, San Francisco and Houston Grand Operas, as well as La Scala, Vienna State Opera and London’s Covent Garden. Tickets are $25 to $50 and $10 for youths.

Pianist Terry Eder, joined by a member of the Young Artists Program, will present Verdi’s Contemporaries at the Keyboard on August 18 at 5 p.m. in the Pavilion next to the theater, featuring works surrounding the period in which Aida was written. Eder’s repertoire is wide, encompassing much of the major piano literature, as well as seldom performed works of Bartók, Dohnányi, Kodály and others. She has performed acclaimed solo recitals at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall and more. Tickets are $20 and $10 for youths.

On August 24 at 3 p.m. tenor Noah Stewart will present Sultry Summer Nights, featuring selections from opera, musical theater and more. Stewart was recently announced as the first black musician to top British classical music charts with his new album Noah. Stewart performs the role of Radames in the mainstage production of Aida. He is accomplished in interpreting such core roles as Don José in Carmen or Rodolfo in La bohème, and recently made his Covent Garden debut in the world premiere of Miss Fortune. Tickets are $20 and $10 for youths.