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.

MEET ME AT THE PAVILION

The Festival presents Meet Me at the Pavilion, a series of special performances that take place in the Pavilion next to the Alice Busch Opera Theater. These performances are presented all summer and consist of performances by members of the Young Artists Program, guest artists and the South African singers that join the company as part of its Lost in the Stars co-production with Cape Town Opera.

Ladies’ Night Out; July 23 and August 13 at 5 p.m.; $20/youths $10
Join the leading ladies of the season as they take the stage for an intimate program of song.

Voices of South Africa; July 24 and July 30 at 5 p.m.; $20/$10 youths
South African artists from the Lost in the Stars cast present songs from their homeland.

Fathers and Sons; July 29, August 6 and August 21 at 5 p.m.; $10/$5 youths
Lost in the Stars is, at heart, a story of fathers and sons. Join members of the Young Artists Program as they explore other composers’ insights into relationships that range from the tender to the tempestuous.

Songs of Travel: Pilgrims, Peddlers and Pioneers; July 31, August 14 and August 19 at 5 p.m.; $10/$5 youths
The Music Man’s Harold Hill is a traveling man who learns to settle down. In this program, performed by members of the Young Artists Program, we meet other wanderers who inspired great composers.

Biography of a Common Man: Songs and Scenes from Johnny Johnson; August 3 at 3 p.m., August 7, August 12 and August 20 at 5 p.m.; $20/$10 youths
Estelle Parsons directs an abridged version of Kurt Weill’s first American work. Originally written for The Group Theatre, the show centers around a pacifist soldier in World War I.

SHOWTALK

The ShowTalk series returns in 2012 with an expanded schedule. The series features discussions with eminent scholars and artists, as well as live performances by members of the Young Artists Program. These lectures are held on a variety of Saturday and Sunday mornings in July and August at the Otesaga Resort Hotel and Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown and on the Glimmerglass campus. Each session is only $25 and $10 for youths.

July 28 at 10 a.m., Otesaga Resort Hotel
Kim Kowalke on Kurt Weill
Marshall Pynkoski and Jeanette Lajeunesse Zingg on French Baroque Gesture and Dance
July 29 at 11 a.m., Pavilion
Estelle Parsons and Francesca Zambello Discuss Performing Kurt Weill
August 4 at 10 a.m., Otesaga Resort Hotel
John Julius Norwich on Aida’s Premiere in Cairo
Nader Abbassi on Arab Music Today
August 11 at 10 a.m., Otesaga Resort Hotel
Olga M. Davidson on Tasso’s Armida in Opera
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Trials in Opera
August 12 at 11 a.m., Pavilion
Francesca Zambello on the 2013 Glimmerglass Festival
August 18 at 10 a.m., Fenimore Art Museum (co-presented with Fenimore Art Museum)
Christopher Tadgell on Egyptian Architecture
In Their Own Words: Writings from the Creators of the 2012 Season
August 25 at 10 a.m., Pavilion
Nimet Habachy on Aida and the Current Turmoil in Egypt
American Opera: Where Have We Been and Where Are We Going?

YOUNG ARTISTS PROGRAM PERFORMANCE

On August 17, at 1:30 p.m., Glimmerglass will present a fully staged performance of Aida starring members of the Young Artists Program, the company’s apprentice program for young singers. Glimmerglass presented the first fully staged Young Artists performance last summer with Carmen, offering Young Artists the opportunity to perform the roles they understudy with full orchestra.

DomiNick Rodriguez, a 2011 Young Artist, performed the role of Don José in the 2011 Young Artists performance of Carmen.

“Performing in the Young Artists Program Carmen meant so much to me,” he said. “It is rare for young artists to be given the chance to perform a full production of an opera with orchestra. It was a chance for me to grow exponentially, because everything is so much bigger, and I had to force myself to live up to the opportunity. There is no substitute for this kind of experience.”

Tickets for this performance are $25 and $10 for youths.

FREE EVENTS

The Glimmerglass Festival offers many free opportunities for audience members to further their experience. Free previews are available prior to each performance, where a member of the music staff offers an exploration into the work about to be performed. Free backstage tours are offered every double-performance Saturday at 10 a.m., and between performances on double-performance Saturdays, audience members may remain in the theater to watch as the production crews change the scenery and lighting to that of the next production. A member of the production staff narrates as the crews race to change the scenery in less than three hours. Additionally, free question-and-answer sessions with the cast and conductor are available for audience member after many mainstage performances throughout the summer.