Michael Todd Simpson to Replace Lead in Glimmerglass Festival's CARMEN

Michael Todd Simpson will sing the role of Escamillo in The Glimmerglass Festival's production of Carmen beginning July 15, replacing Keith Miller who has withdrawn from the role. The new Anne Bogart-directed production runs through August 23 in the Alice Busch Opera Theater in Cooperstown, New York.

Glimmerglass Young Artist Aleksey Bogdanov will perform the role July 9 and 11.

Simpson, an alumnus of Glimmerglass's Young Artists Program, was last seen at Glimmerglass as The Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance. Simpson recently performed the role of Escamillo with Opera Australia, National Chiang Kai-Shek Cultural Center in Taipei and China National Center for the Performing Arts. He has performed with companies across the United States, including Metropolitan, New York City, Dallas, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Florida Grand, Portland and Fort Worth operas.

The 2011 Glimmerglass Festival runs through August 23 with rotating productions of Bizet's Carmen, Cherubini's Medea, Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun and a double bill of new works: A Blizzard On Marblehead Neck (Tesori/Kushner) and Later the Same Evening (Musto/Campbell). Visit www.glimmerglass.org for tickets and information.