Glimmerglass Festival

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:

11:00 am: Preview Brunches

Get a sneak peek of the 2025 Festival season from Artistic & General Director Rob Ainsley and members of the 2024 Young Artists Program while you enjoy a delicious brunch catered by The Horned Dorset. Menus available in the spring; vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options always available.

Tickets: $65 per person

1:00pm: 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

7:30pm: Rumpelstiltskin and the Unlovable Children

Glimmerglass is proud to present the world premiere of the youth opera Rumpelstiltskin and the Unlovable Children by Jens Ibsen and Cecelia Raker. Deep in the forest lives a gaggle of feral, unlovable children. They work their hands to the bone every day in service to the evil wizard Rumpelstiltskin…he makes them do chores! And brush their teeth regularly! And talk about their feelings! It’s the WORST. But then one day, Rumpel tells them the story of how his childhood friend, a talented businesswoman, got forced to marry the king. Suddenly all the Unlovable Children’s narratives about who they are begin to unravel. When Goldie, the eldest of them, learns that she’s actually the long-lost daughter of that Queen, she’s faced with a tough choice: go live the life she'd imagined as a princess, or stay with the unconventional family that has nurtured her true self?

MUSIC | Jens Ibsen
LIBRETTO | Cecelia Raker
SUNG IN | English
PROJECTED TEXT | English
RUN TIME | 1 hour

DIRECTOR | Joshua R. Horowitz
CHOREOGRAPHER | Amanda Testini*
COSTUME DESIGNER | Erik Teague
SET DESIGNER | James Rotondo

Tickets - $20 | Youth 12 and under - Free