Glimmerglass Festival announces 2024 productions

Dec. 14—The Glimmerglass Festival has announced details of its 2024 festival season, titled "Identity & Illusion," including season guest artists, creative teams, and a new initiative dedicated to the support of works in development.

According to a media release, highlights of the festival will include a new production of "Elizabeth Cree" by the Pulitzer Prize-winning team of Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell; "The House on Mango Street," a new opera by three-time Grammy nominee Derek Bermel and librettist Sandra Cisneros; a production of the classic "Pagliacci" from Brenna Corner, the newly appointed artistic director of Pacific Opera Victoria, with pre-show outdoor concerts curated by the artists; and a world premiere youth opera by Jens Ibsen, and Cecelia Raker, 2022 winner of the San Francisco Conservatory's Emerging Black Composers Project.

2024 Artist-in-Residence Tara Erraught is among an international group of guest artists making their Glimmerglass debuts, the release said, including Craig Irvin, Christian Mark Gibbs, Taylor Raven, Elizabeth Sutphen and Robert Stahley. Returning artists will include Eve Gigliotti, Amber Monroe, Troy Cook and Schyler Vargas, all alumni of the Glimmerglass Young Artists Program.

"The Glimmerglass family is created each season out of the special alchemy that arises when international artists at the peak of their profession work as peers alongside America's most exciting emerging artists and apprentices," said Artistic and General Director Rob Ainsley. "While introducing our audiences to new artists I have worked with and admired throughout my career, there will also be many familiar faces eager to make the most of their next big opportunity. I couldn't be more excited for the excellent directors and conductors making their solo mainstage debuts with us this season. Each will bring fascinating new perspectives to their productions."

The 2024 Glimmerglass Festival will run from July 22 through Aug. 20, with mainstage productions including Gilbert & Sullivan's "The Pirates of Penzance", Cavalli's "La Calisto", Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci" and Kevin Puts' and Mark Campbell's "Elizabeth Cree".

The festival will also feature a new works initiative called "Project Pipeline", curated by Ainsley. Project Pipeline "is a broadening of The Glimmerglass Festival's commitment to new work and contemporary opera, designed to mobilize the Festival's unique artistic resources to support the development of works-in-progress, give opportunities to talented emerging voices, and open a window on the creative process to the Festival's audience," the release said.

The festival will offer a variety of free events throughout the season. Preview Talks, held before every mainstage performance, "offer audiences the chance to dive into the history of each production with conductors, directors and music staff," the release said. Backstage Tours explore the Alice Busch Opera Theater and production and costume workshops, and will be offered before every Saturday matinee. Changeover Talks, held between Saturday matinee and evening performances, will explain the process of transitioning sets from one production to another as the audience watches the production onstage.

Ticket packages for the 2024 festival are available now, with all tickets on sale on Jan. 22. To learn more about the season or to purchase tickets, visit www.glimmerglass.org or call 607-547-2255.