The Festival invites you to immerse yourself in myth, mystery, and adventure as the repertory for the 2024 season explores the connection between identity and illusion.

Festival Schedule:

1:00pm: The Pirates of Penzance

The 2024 Festival will open with Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance in a vibrant production directed and choreographed by Seán Curran and conducted by Music Director Joseph Colaneri, featuring set and costume designs by James Schuette and lighting by Robert Wierzel. A Gilbert & Sullivan classic, combining soaring vocal lines and slapstick comedy, returns to Glimmerglass for the first time in nearly 20 years. This colorful, family-friendly production features elegant Victorian ladies and an aristocratic band of pirates stuck in perpetual adolescence. Curran’s hit production from Opera Theatre of Saint Louis kicks it up a notch at Glimmerglass with the addition of a corps of professional dancers.

MUSIC | Sir Arthur Sullivan
LIBRETTO | W.S. Gilbert
SUNG IN | English
PROJECTED LYRICS | English
RUN TIME | 2 hours and 25 minutes

CONDUCTOR | Joseph Colaneri
DIRECTOR | Seán Curran
CHOREOGRAPHER | Seán Curran
SET DESIGNER | James Schuette
COSTUME DESIGNER | James Schuette
LIGHTING DESIGNER | Robert Wierzel
HAIR & MAKEUP DESIGNER | Tom Watson
CHORUS DIRECTOR | Katherine Kozak

7:30pm: La Calisto

The 2024 production of Cavalli’s La Calisto features Artistic & General Director Rob Ainsley’s 2013 realization of the score, expanding Cavalli’s continuo and strings with original parts for winds and brass. Comedy and pathos, gods and mortals, and a few rutting satyrs for good measure—this sparkling early opera, which weaves together two myths of transformation, has it all. Written at the midpoint of Cavalli’s career, La Calisto was conceived to deliver maximum entertainment to its discerning Venetian public, resulting in a hilarious caper full of mistaken identities, raunchy trysts, and celestial magic. This bold take will be conducted by Ainsley, directed by Mo Zhou, and choreographed by Eric Sean Fogel.

MUSIC | Francesco Cavalli
LIBRETTO | Giovanni Faustini
SUNG IN | Italian
PROJECTED TEXT | English
RUN TIME | 2 hours and 25 minutes

CONDUCTOR | Rob Ainsley
DIRECTOR | Mo Zhou
CHOREOGRAPHER | Eric Sean Fogel
SET DESIGNER | Charlie Corcoran
COSTUME DESIGNER | Carlos Soto
LIGHTING DESIGNER | Amith Chandrashaker
HAIR & MAKEUP DESIGNER | Tom Watson