Opera Picciona to Present Mozart/Offenbach Double Bill With BASTIEN UND BASTIENNE and LE 66

Opera Picciona has revealed details for its inaugural production, a double bill of Mozart's Bastien und Bastienne and Offenbach's Le 66, which will be performed at the Houghton Hall Arts Community's Fred and Adele Astaire Ballroom on June 26 and 27, 2026.

Two soprano shepherdesses, two tenors tempted by life in the city, two basses mediating the ensuing conflict. These two one-act comic operas tell of characters pulled this way and that by the call of the pastoral and the metropolitan. At this crossroads, what else but hilarity can ensue? Both works are comic operas with dialogue, one with an elegant and refined score by opera's favorite child prodigy, and the other with wall-to-wall toe-tappers by the uncontested master of French operetta.

Bastien und Bastienne, composed when Mozart was just twelve years old, follows Bastienne, who is in despair after her beloved Bastien has thrown her over in favor of chasing wealthy ladies of rank. She enlists the aid of the alleged sorcerer Colas, who assures her that Bastien does love her, but must be brought round by means of a deception. Though less developed than the composer's later operas, Bastien und Bastienne provides a glimpse into the young Mozart's facility for vocal writing, and an early hint of the elegant blend of humor and pathos that would cause works like Le nozze di Figaro to revolutionize the genre of opera buffa.

Le 66 follows Grittly and Frantz, two Tyrolean peasants, on the road to Strasbourg to visit Grittly's sister. Along the way, Frantz buys a lottery ticket. They then meet Berthold, a peddler, who happens to be carrying the paper with the winning lottery numbers, and it transpires that Frantz holds the winning #66. Though best known today for the opéra fantastique Les contes d'Hoffmann, and certain full-length opéra bouffes such as Orphée aux enfers and La Grande-duchesse de Gérolstein, Offenbach was perhaps most prolific in his series of one-act opérettes, including dozens written for his own theatre, the Bouffes-Parisiens in Paris. Little-performed today, these operettes present a wealth of melody and comedy well worth a revival.

The double bill will feature stage direction by Opera Picciona co-founder Natan Zamansky and musical direction by Eric Peterson. Bastien und Bastienne will star soprano Melissa Perry as Bastienne, tenor Yong Hoon Lee as Bastien, and baritone Keunwon Park as Colas. Le 66 will star soprano Angela Scorese as Grittly, tenor Mark Martinez as Frantz, and baritone Colin Safley as Berthold.