Berkshire Opera Festival Reveals 2026 Summer Season Featuring New Resident Artist Program

Berkshire Opera Festival has unveiled its 2026 summer season under the leadership of Co-founders Brian Garman, who serves as the William E. Briggs Artistic Director, and Director of Production Jonathon Loy, joined by new President and CEO Natalie Johnsonius Neubert. Entering its eleventh year, the company will introduce its Resident Artist Program while presenting a mainstage LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR and additional concerts and performances. The season will reflect the Festival’s mission to support emerging artists while producing opera at a high level for Berkshire audiences.

The inaugural class of Resident Artists will take on leading roles in a fully staged production of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (Zémire et Azor) in July. These artists will also understudy principal roles in the mainstage opera, appear in recitals and salon performances, and participate in public master classes. Led by Lynn Baker, the program will include five artists selected from a competitive pool of 600 applicants, offering individualized training and engagement with the organization’s artistic leadership.

Brian Garman said, “As BOF enters its second decade, we're very excited to announce a major new expansion of our programming, which is the addition of our Resident Artist Program. I've been eager to create this program for several years, and I'm thrilled for it to become a reality next summer. As their inaugural production, the Resident Artists will present Grétry's delightful and touching adaptation of the Beauty and the Beast tale entitled Zémire et Azor. This will serve as the ideal prelude to our mainstage production, which is perhaps the most celebrated Bel Canto opera of all — Donizetti's towering Lucia di Lammermoor. It's an opera that demands the very greatest singers, and that's exactly what we have in store for you!”

President and CEO Natalie Johnsonius Neubert said, “We're thrilled to share Berkshire Opera Festival's 2026 season—a year that truly shows what opera can be. From the sweeping drama of our mainstage production Lucia di Lammermoor, to the intimate beauty of Schubert's Winterreise, and the fresh energy of our Resident Artists performing in Beauty and the Beast, this season celebrates the power of these masterpieces and the promise of the next generation of artists—offering something meaningful for everyone in our community and beyond.”

LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR

Berkshire Opera Festival will present a new production of Gaetano Donizetti’s LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR as its 2026 mainstage opera, conducted by Brian Garman and directed by Jonathon Loy. Performances will take place at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington on Saturday, August 22 at 1 p.m., Tuesday, August 25 at 7:30 p.m., and Friday, August 28 at 7:30 p.m., with a free pre-performance talk by dramaturg Cori Ellison prior to the August 22 performance. The opera will be sung in Italian with projected English translations, with tickets starting at $20.

The cast will include soprano Christine Lyons as Lucia, tenor Terrence Chin-Loy as Edgardo, baritone Dean Murphy as Enrico, bass Stefan Egerstrom as Raimondo, and tenor Jordan Costa as Arturo, joined by the Berkshire Opera Festival Orchestra and Chorus. Lyons, winner of the 2025 Princess Grace Award, returns to BOF following previous performances with the company. Chin-Loy has recently appeared with the Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and Arizona Opera. Murphy performs regularly with Deutsche Oper Berlin, Egerstrom with Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Metropolitan Opera, and Costa is an alumnus of the Yale and Eastman Schools of Music.

The production will feature the work of BOF’s artistic team, including conductor Brian Garman and stage director Jonathon Loy, with additional design team members to be announced.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (ZÉMIRE ET AZOR)

The inaugural Resident Artist production will be BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (Zémire et Azor), André Grétry’s 18th-century adaptation of the classic tale, with performances on Friday, July 31 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, August 2 at 1 p.m. at a venue to be announced. The fully staged production will be sung in French with spoken English dialogue and projected English translations, with tickets beginning at $20.

The new staging will reimagine the story in the world of Gilded Age America. Zémire, daughter of a newly wealthy family, searches for authenticity while Azor, a reclusive figure hidden by disfigurement after an industrial accident, lives in isolation outside New York. When Zémire offers herself to protect her father, she discovers Azor’s deeper humanity and the emotional truth of the story. Cast details will be announced, and the production will feature the Berkshire Opera Festival Orchestra.

The opera will be directed by Mo Zhou, whose recent work includes productions at Florentine Opera, Kentucky Opera, The Juilliard School, and Arizona Opera. Zhou’s staging experience spans opera and theater, with credits across regional and academic institutions.

WINTERREISE

BOF will present Schubert’s WINTERREISE on Saturday, March 7 at 2 p.m. at Tanglewood’s Studio E in the Linde Center for Music and Learning in Lenox. The cycle of 24 songs will be performed in German with printed English translations, with tickets starting at $20. The performance has an approximate running time of 75 minutes.

Baritone Jarrett Porter will perform the complete cycle, joined by BOF Artistic Director Brian Garman on piano. Porter last appeared with BOF as Valentin in the 2024 mainstage production of Faust. His recent work includes performances with regional and national opera companies, along with musical theater and concert appearances.

WINTERREISE will explore the psychological and emotional terrain of Schubert’s dramatic song cycle, following a solitary wanderer through a landscape marked by loss and reflection.

Additional 2026 Dates

March 7: Winterreise concert at Tanglewood.
July 31 and August 2: Beauty and the Beast (Zémire et Azor).
August 22, 25, and 28: Lucia di Lammermoor at the Mahaiwe.
Pre-show lecture by Cori Ellison on August 22.