Opera Ithaca Announces 2019 - 2020 Season

Opera Ithaca announced today its 2019 - 2020 Season, including three operas and the return of The Edward M. Murray International Competition of Voice. The season includes Giacomo Puccini's La bohème, presented as a co-production with the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Pauline Viardot's Cendrillon and Le nozze di Figaro, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Opera Ithaca's sixth season begins with Puccini's 1896 classic, La bohème, and marks the first collaboration between Opera Ithaca and the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra. Under the baton of Cayuga Chamber Orchestra Music Director Cornelia Laemmli Orth, La bohème features the return of soprano Megan Nielson as Mimì, baritone SeungHyeon Baek as Marcello, and bass Marc Webster as Colline, and the company debuts of Joshua Collier as Rodolfo and Nayoung Ban as Musetta. Metropolitan Opera soprano Emily Pulley makes her Opera Ithaca debut as stage director. Performances of La bohème are September 28th and 29th, 2019 at Ford Hall on the campus of Ithaca College.

Continuing the groundbreaking tradition of presenting an opera by a female composer every season, Opera Ithaca will offer Pauline Viardot's Cendrillonon New Year's Eve. This charming version of Cinderella, with a new English libretto by Artistic Director Ben Robinson, will be directed by Norm Johnson and presented at the Hangar Theatre on December 31st, 2019.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's masterpiece, Le nozze di Figaro, closes the season with a run of performances at The Cherry Artspace, April 23rdthrough 26th, 2020. Soprano Donata Cucinotta makes her Opera Ithaca role debut as Countess Almaviva, alongside soprano Stacy Geyer as Susanna and 2018 Edward M. Murray International Competition of Voice winner Scott Purcell in the title role. Artistic Director Ben Robinson makes his Opera Ithaca debut as stage director alongside conductor Andy Anderson.

The Edward M. Murray International Competition of Voice will be held on March 1st, 2020 at the Community School of Music and Arts. Past finalists have gone on to international careers and continue to be featured performers throughout Opera Ithaca's seasons. The final round of the competition is open to the public.

Founded in 2014, Opera Ithaca brings professional opera to Ithaca and the surrounding region. It enriches the local arts community by providing a consistent venue for classical vocal music. Opera Ithaca presents distinctive and highly theatrical productions of operatic and musical theatre works as well as concerts, lectures, and educational outreach events. Opera Ithaca engages a diverse and multi-generational audience to aid in the preservation of opera as a living art form. It has a commitment, unique among opera companies, to produce an opera by a woman composer every season. Opera Ithaca also has an apprentice artist program, and apprentices take part in all our productions and outreach activities. Opera Ithaca is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. The 2019 - 2020 Season will also be Opera Ithaca's first as a professional member of Opera America, the national nonprofit service organization for opera in North America.

Tickets for La bohème go on sale on August 1st. More information can be found at www.operaithaca.org.