Last year, the Glimmerglass
Opera set an example to other summer festivals with
an innovative program of four operas focused on the Orpheus
legend. For 2008, the company’s General Director Michael
MacLeod should again be commended for his originality
in selecting four intriguing works based on Shakespearean
characters. His thrilling program looms as major attraction
on this summer’s circuit, as opera ‘aficionados’
from all over the country will be converging on Cooperstown
to encounter Mr. MacLeod’s vision. The four works -
all in stimulating new productions, each with English surtitles
– will be Handel’s finest Baroque opera, Julius
Caesar; Bellini’s ‘bel canto’ version
of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ entitled I
Capuleti e I Montecchi; Wagner’s early music-drama
based on ‘Measure for Measure’, entitled Das
Liebesverbot (‘The Ban on Love’); and finally
– in a clever salute to the best of Broadway –
Cole Porter’s melodic gloss on ‘The Taming of
the Shrew’, Kiss Me, Kate.
This season, the company tireless Director of Productions,
John Conklin, is responsible
for the stage designs for all four works included on our long
weekend.
For
the past sixteen summers the Glimmerglass
Opera has been the primary destination of our Hudson
Valley Tour and has elicited unanimous approval for the high
quality of the productions. Moreover, the natural scenic beauty
of the landscape around Cooperstown and Lake Otsego has proven
to be an unexpected discovery for many of our regular travelers
from all parts of the country. In a relatively short time,
Glimmerglass has caught the attention of serious opera lovers
throughout the country. It has emerged as a major Festival
which everyone continues to talk about. Some of our friends
have returned to Cooperstown with us year after year, not
wanting to miss a single new production in the idyllic setting
of the Alice Busch Opera Theatre.
Historic
Cooperstown lies on the shores of crystal-clear Lake Otsego
and is the home of the area’s firmly established Glimmerglass
Opera. Already acclaimed for its intimate and technically
superior performing space, the company has enjoyed rave reviews
for last season’s four Orpheus operas and such early
works as Handel’s ‘Tamerlano’ and ‘Agrippina’
and Gluck’s ‘Iphigénie en Tauride’;
such mainstream operas as Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni’
and ‘Le Nozze di Figaro’ and Puccini’s ‘Tosca’
‘Butterfly’ and ‘Boheme’. Of particular
note, the company has achieved resounding success with such
challenging 20th century works as ‘Death in Venice’,
‘The Mines of Sulphur’, ‘The Good Soldier
Schweik’ ‘Dialogues of the Carmelites’,
‘Little Women’, ‘Of Mice and Men’,
and the 1999 world premiere of ‘Central Park’
which was telecast on PBS. The unusual creative standards
of this young company are further enhanced by the aesthetic
scenic surroundings. “The Glimmerglass Opera must be
one of the nicest places in America to go to the Opera.”
(Richard Dyer, The Boston Globe)
Accommodations
are impossible to find on your own, but we have secured a
four-night stay at Cooperstown’s
leading Otesaga Hotel. You should
discover for yourself the many attractions of this appealing
institution and the exhilarating experience of our open-air
trolleys driving along the lake in anticipation of a great
performance. A Saturday night stay-over is included to allow
for optimum air fares to Albany.
