Opera Saratoga, the Capital Region’s only professional opera company, is celebrating its 65th season by embracing minimalism and their viewers’ abilities to imagine. The upcoming season’s lineup will feature performances of “Stone Soup,” “Happy End,” “The Elixir of Love,” “My Fair Lady,” and “DRIFT.”
General and Artistic Director Mary Birnbaum describes Opera Saratoga’s 65th season as “stripped down, up close, and unmistakably NOW.” According to her, today’s audience have clearly shown an interest in toned-down, raw, and real performances, so naturally, Opera Saratoga is embracing that vision by stripping back the scenery and amping up the drama, allowing the visuals and staging to be left up to the viewers’ imaginations.
The company’s first ever winter offering, a semi-staged version of “La Bohème,” will close out this year’s season at the Universal Preservation Hall at 7:00 p.m. on December 5. Following that, the company will present a touring education opera, Mark Campbell and Joe Illick’s “Stone Soup,” at over 30 schools and community venues throughout March 2026.
The Glimmerglass Festival and Opera Saratoga will join forces in May for Kurt Weill, Berthold Brecht, and Elizabeth Hauptmann’s “Happy End.” This opera got a controversial start, having been after only its second performance in Germany in 1929 for its satirical take on big business and big religion.
The music will be directed by Robert Ainsley, the Artistic and General Director of the Glimmerglass Festival, with performances featuring Ana Karneža, winner of the Kurt Weill Foundation’s Lotte Lenya competition in 2024. Mary Birnbaum will direct the opera alongside Glimmerglass Festival dramaturg Kelly Rourke, remarking that the performance will bring forth “an exciting new model of producing opera where regional companies partner with each other to bring opera to individual communities.” With this new venture, both companies aim to promote opera throughout New York State, with the tour coming to several venues statewide, including 2 performances at UPH on May 28 and 30 at 7:00 p.m.
On May 31, the Opera Saratoga Summer Festival season will continue with a Rodgers & Hammerstein concert at the Mansion of Saratoga at 12 p.m. and 5 p.m. The season is designed to celebrate the 20 rising opera stars selected by Opera Saratoga from a pool of 850 applicants, with the Festival Artist Portrait Concerts (at Saratoga Arts 7:00 p.m. on Wednesdays May 20- June 10) showcasing what made each of the selected singers decide to become artists. Three fully staged productions – “My Fair Lady, “The Elixir of Love,” and a workshop of “DRIFT” (Opera Saratoga’s first mainstage commission from an all-female team) – will then perform throughout June 20-28.
“The Elixir of Love,” a romantic comedy from Gaetano Donizetti and Felice Romani, will perform four times at Universal Preservation Hall: 2:00 p.m. on June 21 and 7:00 p.m. on June 23, 25, and 27. The opera tells the tale of lovestruck commoner Nemorino attempting to win the affections of wealthy landowner Adina using a love potion (in reality, a bottle of Bordeaux) from the traveling Doctor Dulcamara. This heartfelt bel-canto opera is filled with some of Donizetti’s best compositions, and with Saratoga’s reputation as a healing town, “The Elixir of Love” is a perfect fit.
“Elixir” is known to be a crowd-pleaser for the opera-curious, as well as a mainstay favorite for seasoned opera enthusiasts. Opera Saratoga’s performance will be directed by John Giampietro and conducted by Nicolò Sbuelz, featuring a chorus of all local singers for the first time in over 25 years at Opera Saratoga.
Lerner and Loewe’s “My Fair Lady” will run alongside “Elixir,” also having 4 performances at Universal Preservation Hall at 7:00 p.m. on June 20, 24, and 26 and at 2:00 p.m. on June 28. “My Fair Lady” takes its inspirations from George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion” and tells the story of the unlikely bond between the staid British phonetics professor Henry Higgins and the Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle, who he attempts to teach how to become a lady. 10 singing actors and 2 pianists will comprise the cast of this timeless production, which will be directed by Birnbaum, choreographed by Julia Eichten, and music directed by Adam Nielsen.
The final of the Summer Festival shows is composer Alyssa Weinberg and librettist J. Mae Barizo’s “DRIFT,” which tells a story of motherlands, migration, and memory set among the greatest crises of our time. Opera Saratoga will be performing a piano and electronics workshop of this piece this summer for 2 performances only: 7:00 p.m. on June 21 and 2:00 p.m. on June 26. Conducted by Christopher Allen and directed by Caili Quan, “DRIFT” is promised by Birnbaum to “take a (gentle) sledgehammer to what your idea of opera is, [leaving you] edified and moved.”
Opera Saratoga is also excited to announce that pianist, coach, and educator Adam Nielsen has been promoted as the Head of Music Staff and Director of the Festival Artist Program. His storied history in the music industry, including working at the Metropolitan Opera, as an educator at The Juilliard School, and experience with major opera stars like Davòne Tines and Ryan Speedo Green make him the perfect fit for the position. Laurie Rogers will also continue to lead the company, now in a new role as Director of Artistic Operations.
Subscriptions for Opera Saratoga’s 65th season go on sale at 12:00 p.m. this Friday, November 7, with donor presale beginning at 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 4 by calling (518) 346-6204. For more information about Opera Saratoga and to join the mailing list, click here.
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