Berkshire Opera Festival Announces Summer 2022 Season

The BERKSHIRE OPERA FESTIVAL has announced its 2022 season in Great Barrington and Pittsfield, MA, and for the first time in Chatham, NY. The only company of its kind in the region, BOF produces opera at the highest level under the vision of esteemed co-founders Brian Garman (Artistic Director) and Jonathon Loy (Director of Production).

Last summer Berkshire Opera Festival opened back up with its most robust season to date, pressing ahead with its mission: to bring live fully-staged opera-safely but thrillingly-to the Berkshires. The Boston Globe reported that the company's ambition remained "undimmed" by these difficult times, mounting a major Falstaff with powerhouse international singers, launching its Second Stage (BOF's new vehicle for works that require smaller forces), planning strategically for the future, and growing its board of directors.

BOF moves full steam ahead in 2022. In a first, PS21-the "beautiful, reconfigurable indoor-outdoor space that appears to have landed like an exotic bird in the midst of a 100-acre former apple orchard" (Jesse Green in The New York Times) in Chatham, NY-joins forces with Berkshire Opera Festival to present a new production of Jake Heggie's intimate Three Decembers on July 21 and 23, conducted by Christopher James Ray and directed by Beth Greenberg, This contemporary American opera is based on Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally's original script for Some Christmas Letters. The story, which takes place over two decades during the AIDS crisis, follows Broadway star Madeline Mitchell and her adult children as they struggle to connect and heal old wounds while family secrets are revealed. This marks BOF's 2nd Second Stage event, following Tom Cipullo's highly praised Glory Denied last summer.

Next, the Festival heads to the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, MA on August 10 for a free concert that spotlights a wide swath of works by Black composers. Finally, on August 20, 23, and 26, the season culminates with the summer's most ambitious undertaking: a new staging by Jonathon Loy of Mozart's comedy-tragedy masterpiece Don Giovanni at the historic, intimate Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, MA. Brian Garman conducts the Berkshire Opera Festival Orchestra and Chorus. After last season's Falstaff at the Mahaiwe, Bachtrack raved: "Garman was a wizard with this challenging, everything-happening-at-once work. Verdi's witty and evanescent score rang clear as a bell. The opera flies by on the wind; Maestro Garman kept it aloft." Don Giovanni, which is often considered to be Mozart's greatest work, tells the story of antihero Giovanni's demise. This production was originally scheduled for the 2020 fifth anniversary season, but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In a quick pivot, the cast collaborated on a virtual concert recorded in their homes and studios, which streamed in August 2020. The majority of this original cast returns to present the opera in person this summer.

THREE DECEMBERS

Second Stage
Co-presented by Berkshire Opera Festival and
PS21/Performance Spaces for the 21st Century

Thursday, July 21, 7:30pm
Saturday, July 23, 1pm
PS21 open-air Pavilion Theater, 2980 NY-66, Chatham, NY.
This production contains adult language. Sung in English.
Approximate running time: 90 minutes (no intermission).
Tickets from $20 - $60 will be made available for purchase
through the PS21 box office later in the spring.

Music by Jake Heggie
Libretto by Gene Scheer
Based on an original play by Terrence McNally
Commissioned by the Houston Grand Opera in 2008

CAST
Mezzo-soprano Adriana Zabala - Madeline Mitchell
Soprano Monica Dewey - Beatrice
Baritone Theo Hoffman - Charlie

CREATIVE TEAM
Conductor Christopher James Ray
Stage Director Beth Greenberg
Scenic Designer Janie E. Howland
Costume Designer Brooke Stanton
Lighting Designer Alex Jainchill
Hair & Make-up Designer Beckie Kravetz
Musical Preparation Noah Palmer
English Diction Coach Lynn Baker
Production Stage Manager Cindy Knight

And featuring the Berkshire Opera Festival Orchestra

What if the family narrative that shapes us is a lie? Three Decembers tells the story of aging Broadway star Madeline Mitchell and her two adult children as they struggle to connect and heal old wounds while family secrets are revealed. This intimate, compelling drama takes place over two decades during the AIDS crisis, and has been hailed by critics as a modern masterpiece.

Berkshire Opera Festival mounts a new production of THREE DECEMBERS by Jake Heggie as its Second Stage production this year. BOF is thrilled to partner with PS21, a state-of-the-art green-energy theater in Chatham, NY, which since completing its new theater has evolved into the Hudson Valley's mecca for innovative programming by leading and emerging artists in contemporary music.

The one act THREE DECEMBERS takes a deep look at the meaning of connection in the contemporary American family through the story of Broadway star Madeline Mitchell and her children. Stage Director Beth Greenberg, renowned for her work at the New York City Opera, says of the opera: "Buried secrets...dark whispers...love, and devastating loss...all collide and burst forth in Three Decembers. With its skillful balance of drama and èlan, the work probes the fraught relationships between a successful actress-mother and her two children-a daughter coping with a failing marriage, and her young, gay son at the beginnings of the AIDS epidemic."

After its premiere in 2008, THREE DECEMBERS was greeted by wide critical acclaim. Opera News declared: "Three Decembers is a modern masterpiece...Heggie's voice remains his own-closer here to Broadway than the Met. That, however, is of little concern. It is music that speaks to the heart; it provokes feeling and demands emotional reaction."

Starring in the lead role of Madeline Mitchell is mezzo-soprano Adriana Zabala, who has been hailed by the Los Angeles Times as "an extraordinary, vibrant mezzo." Zabala returns to Berkshire Opera Festival after stunning performances in the 2017 production of Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos and 2020 premiere of Steven Mark Kohn's The Trial of Susan B. Anthony. Of her performance in Ariadne, The Berkshire Record wrote: "Mezzo-soprano Adriana Zabala took the difficult first act role of The Composer and made it her own. Singing with vivacious expression, her voice has a refined quality, so easy on the ear. A great performance, met by wild applause." Two exciting singers make their Berkshire Opera Festival debuts, opposite Zabala. The versatile soprano, LGBTQ+ advocate, and lively performer of the Metropolitan Opera Monica Dewey plays the unhappily married alcoholic daughter Beatrice. In an interview with Opera News, F. Paul Driscoll states, "Monica Dewey's conversation is exactly like her singing-cool, clear, brimming with intelligence and charged with humor." Baritone Theo Hoffman plays the troubled son Charlie, whose partner is very sick with AIDS. The Los Angeles Times writes: "Hoffman's strong, warm voice filled the space...This was a performance so visceral, so equally raw and refined, it felt completely fresh."

PS21's Black Box/ open-air Pavilion configuration is conceived as a home for intimate-scaled productions, and is ideal for this iteration of THREE DECEMBERS. BOF and PS21 are aligned in their values of supporting the future of opera by presenting new and contemporary performances with world-class artists, and making them accessible to everyone in the region.

Berkshire Opera Festival's production of THREE DECEMBERS is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

DON GIOVANNI

Mainstage
Saturday, August 20, 1pm
Tuesday, August 23, 7:30pm
Friday, August 26, 7:30pm
Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, 14 Castle Street, Great Barrington, MA
Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte
Sung in Italian with projected English translations.
Approximate running time: 3 hours, 10 minutes including one intermission.
Tickets from $20-$120 will be made available for purchase
through the Mahaiwe Box Office starting March 23.

CAST
Bass-Baritone André Courville - Don Giovanni
Bass Christian Zaremba - Leporello
Soprano Laura Wilde - Donna Anna
Tenor Joshua Blue - Don Ottavio
Soprano Joanna Latini - Donna Elvira
Bass-Baritone John Cheek - Commendatore
Soprano Natalia Santaliz - Zerlina
Baritone Brian James Myer - Masetto

CREATIVE TEAM
Conductor Brian Garman
Stage Director Jonathon Loy
Scenic Designer Stephen Dobay
Costume Designer Charles Caine
Lighting Designer Alex Jainchill
Hair & Make-up Designer Beckie Kravetz
Choreographer Stephen Agisilaou
Assistant Conductor & Chorus Master Geoffrey Larson
Musical Preparation Djordje Nesic
Musical Preparation Travis Bloom
Production Stage Manager Cindy Knight

And featuring the Berkshire Opera Festival Orchestra and Chorus

A predator. A charming aristocrat. A murderer. A womanizer whose sexual conquests number into the thousands. Don Giovanni is the original antihero and he will stop at nothing to satisfy his lust, but his crimes demand the ultimate punishment. Mozart and librettist Lorenzo da Ponte blend comedy, tragedy, and the supernatural to thrilling effect in this opera, one of the greatest ever composed.

Berkshire Opera Festival's mainstage show will be Mozart's masterpiece opera DON GIOVANNI, which is based on the legend of Don Juan and tells the story of antihero Giovanni's slow demise in a perfect mix of comedy and tragedy.

Stage Director and BOF co-founder Jonathon Loy says: "In this production of Giovanni, where time and date are of no consequence, we will be forced to see inside the depths of Giovanni's soul for what he truly is, a devastatingly flawed, lecherous man who yields great influence over his surroundings. Through the addition of dance we'll take the journey with Giovanni as he makes his way to the depths of hell, as he tries to take everyone down with him."

This production was originally scheduled to be the highlight of BOF's 2020 Fifth Anniversary Season, but was cancelled due to COVID. Almost all the artists from the original cast are returning in 2022. Original cast members collaborated with BOF to record and produce a virtual concert "From Stage to Screen: The Show Must Go On(line)" in August 2020.

Three performances take place at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington. André Courville makes his Berkshire Opera Festival debut in the lead role of Don Giovanni. Courville is a rising star in the opera world and has been praised by Opera News for his "splendid, lush bass-baritone." Of Courville's recent role in a 2019 production of Gaspare Spontini's Fernand Cortez, Operawire said: "The American bass-baritone produced an excellent performance in the role of the High Priest of the Mexicans...His voice is powerful and authoritative. Recitatives were carefully molded and sung with an uncompromising edge. What also impressed was the beauty of voice; it has a full-bodied, rounded sound underpinned by an inviting warmth which is able to draw the listener towards him."

Opposite Courville is Christian Zaremba in the role of Leporello. The French-American bass has been seen in recent productions of Puccini's Tosca and Gianni Schicchi at the Metropolitan Opera, as well as in lead roles with Austin Opera. The cast also features 2019 Richard Tucker Foundation career grant recipient Laura Wilde in the role of Donna Anna, who has been hailed by Opera News for having "a ravishingly beautiful sound, [and] a fine sense of style and character." The fast-rising British-American tenor Joshua Blue sings Don Ottavio. Opera News has raved about "Joshua Blue, whose saints-raising tenor and complete embodiment of his songs were revelatory." Blue makes multiple role and house debuts this season, including the Metropolitan Opera as Peter in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, Los Angeles Opera singing the Evangelist in Bach's St. Matthew Passion, and Opera Philadelphia as the Duke of Mantua in the Lindy Hume production of Rigoletto.

HIGH ON THE RAMPARTS:

A Spotlight on Music of Black Composers

Free Concert
Wednesday, August 10, 7:30pm
Berkshire Museum's Ellen Crane Memorial Room
39 South St, Pittsfield, MA

CAST
Soprano Kearstin Piper Brown
Tenor Joshua Blue
Pianist Travis Bloom

Berkshire Opera Festival continues its tradition of offering an annual free concert to the public with this magnificent evening of arias and art songs by Black composers. The evening's performers include renowned soprano Kearstin Piper Brown, who recently scored a triumph as the lead in Ricky Ian Gordon's new opera, Intimate Apparel, at Lincoln Center Theater; and the acclaimed tenor Joshua Blue, who will perform the role of Don Ottavio a few days later in BOF's Don Giovanni. Neglected for far too long, these trailblazing women and men wrote outstanding, powerful works that influenced generations of composers to come. BOF is proud to celebrate this rich history of music from two centuries ago to the present day, inside Berkshire Museum's beautiful Ellen Crane Memorial Room.

Free tickets will be available later in the spring through the Berkshire Museum.

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