Opera Saratoga (until January 2011, named the Lake George Opera) is a professional opera company based in
Saratoga Springs, New York
Saratoga Springs is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 28,491 at the United States Census 2020, 2020 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the ...
. It performs an annual summer festival of three fully staged
operas
Opera is a form of Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a li ...
and
operettas.
The company and its associated Lake George Opera Festival were founded in 1962 by Fred Patrick, a New York–based singer/actor and
Juilliard
The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became the Juilliard School, named aft ...
graduate, and the husband of
Jeanette Scovotti, a soprano who sang at the
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...
. Early performances took place at Diamond Point on the shores of
Lake George in upstate New York and later moved to the nearby town of
Queensbury.
John Balme was the General Director from 1988 to 1992. Since 1998, Lake George Opera's performance base has been the Spa Little Theater at the
Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) is a large amphitheatre located in Saratoga Springs, New York, on the grounds of Saratoga Spa State Park. It presents summer performances of classical music, jazz, pop and rock, country, comedy, and dance. I ...
. Conductor
John Douglas served as the company's chorusmaster and director of the LGO's young artist program from 2002 until his death in 2010. July 1, 2014, Lawrence Edelson became the ninth General and artistic director. In March 2023, Mary Birnbaum became the 10th General and artistic director.
Several well-known opera singers performed with the company early in their careers, including
Catherine Malfitano
Catherine Malfitano (born April 18, 1948) is an American operatic soprano and opera director. Malfitano was born in New York City, the daughter of a ballet dancer mother, Maria Maslova, and a violinist father, Joseph Malfitano. She attended the ...
,
Diana Soviero,
Eric Halfvarson
Eric Halfvarson (born December 1, 1951, in Aurora, Illinois) is an American operatic bass. He made his professional debut in 1973 with the Lake George Opera (now the Opera Saratoga) as Don Basilio in Rossini's ''The Barber of Seville''. Since then ...
and
Jerry Hadley.
The company celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2011.
World premieres
World premiere productions staged by the company include:
*
David Amram
David Werner Amram III (born November 17, 1930) is an American composer, arranger, and conductor of orchestral, chamber, and choral works, many with jazz flavorings. 's ''Twelfth Night'', based on Shakespeare's ''
Twelfth Night
''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...
'' (1968)
*Robert Baksa's ''Aria da Capo'' (1968)
*José Bernardo's ''The Child'', based on
José Martí
José Julián Martí Pérez (; 28 January 1853 – 19 May 1895) was a Cuban nationalism, nationalist, poet, philosopher, essayist, journalist, translator, professor, and publisher, who is considered a Cuban national hero because of his role in ...
's poem ''La Niña de Guatemala'' (1974)
*Alva Henderson's ''The Last of the Mohicans'' based on
James Fenimore Cooper
James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was an American writer of the first half of the 19th century, whose historical romances depicting colonial and indigenous characters from the 17th to the 19th centuries brought h ...
's novel, ''
The Last of the Mohicans
''The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757'' is an 1826 historical romance novel by James Fenimore Cooper. It is the second book of the '' Leatherstocking Tales'' pentalogy and the best known to contemporary audiences. '' The Pathfinder'', ...
'' (1977)
*Glenn Paxton's ''The Adventures of
Friar Tuck'' (1983)
*Mark Houston's ''Hazel Kirke'' (1987), based on
Steele MacKaye's 1879
play
Play most commonly refers to:
* Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment
* Play (theatre), a work of drama
Play may refer also to:
Computers and technology
* Google Play, a digital content service
* Play Framework, a Java framework
* P ...
References
;Notes
{{Reflist
;Sources
Opera Saratoga: The history of the Organization Accessed 4 February 2015.
External links
Opera Saratoga official website
Opera festivals in the United States
Musical groups established in 1962
1962 establishments in New York (state)
Saratoga Springs, New York