Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at Norton Hall

ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD 

Workshop Presentation with Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra 

Public Presentation Date: August 7th, 2025 / 3:15 pm / Norton Hall 
Composer & Librettist: Herschel Garfein 
Based on the play by Tom Stoppard 
Conductor: Steven Osgood 
Rosencrantz: Keith Phares 

In Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Grammy award-winning composer and librettist Herschel Garfein has created the first ever operatic adaptation of a play by Tom Stoppard.  Chautauqua Opera Company’s young artists will be joined by internationally heralded baritone Keith Phares and the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra for a ten-day workshop of the complete opera, which concludes with a public presentation of excerpts and panel discussion with Garfein and Phares.  Reviewing excerpts presented at Fort Worth Opera’s Frontiers Festival, the Wall Street Journal said, “composer-librettist Herschel Garfein set the diamond-bright dialogue of the Tom Stoppard play with clarity and wit, heightening the comedy through skillful ensemble writing and characterization.”