Opera Saratoga Announces 64th Summer Season

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Opera Saratoga, which performs for more than 25,000 people annually, will celebrate 64th Summer Season with a series of performances at Universal Preservation Hall in downtown Saratoga Springs and Ferndell Pavilion in the Spa State Park.

“This summer’s festival will transport audiences around the world for two sensational classics which give young singers a chance to shine” General and Artistic Director Mary Birnbaum said, “and two new operas which challenge audience 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” takes us to the heart of the demi-monde in 1860s Paris where two bachelors play tour guide to a Swedish Baron and Baroness. With four performances at Universal Preservation Hall: June 20, 26 & 28 at 7:30 pm and June 22 at 2 pm.

Offenbach’s romp runs in repertory with Bock, Harnick & Masteroff’s jewel-box musical “She Loves Me.” Famous for tunes like “Vanilla Ice Cream,” “She Loves Me” and “It’s Been Grand Knowing You,” this sweet story focuses on two employees in a Budapest parfumerie who are sworn enemies during the day but unsuspecting lonely hearts penpals at night. With five performances at Universal Preservation Hall: June 21, 25, 27 at 7:30 pm and June 28 & 29 at 2 pm. 

Earlier in the month, the company will produce a site-specific installation version 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. With four performances at the Ferndell Pavilion in Saratoga Spa State Park: May 28 at 5 pm, 7 pm, and May 29 at 5 & 7 pm. Rain date: May 31. 

Finally, the company will present a work-in-progress showing 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. 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 pm.

For more information and tickets go to: operasaratoga.org or email info@operasaratoga.org