The Glimmerglass Festival’s exhilarating 50th anniversary season centers artists and creators, celebrates opera and musical theater legends, and introduces a thrilling world premiere opera based on a beloved book.

Mainstage productions will include Tosca (Puccini/Illica & Giacosa), Sunday in The Park With George (Sondheim/Sondheim & Lapine), The Rake’s Progress (Stravinsky/Auden & Kallman), the World Premiere of The House on Mango Street (Bermel/Cisneros), based on the classic book. The Festival is also proud to bring former Artistic Director Francesca Zambello’s acclaimed original production of Odyssey (Moore/Rourke) to the Alice Busch Opera Theater for the first time.

Schedule

August 3, 2025

2026 Preview Brunches

11:00am

Get a sneak peek of the 2026 Festival season from Artistic & General Director Rob Ainsley and members of the 2025 Resident Artists Program while you enjoy a delicious brunch catered by The Horned Dorset. Menus are available in the spring; vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options are always available.

TICKETS - $65 per person

VENUE - Pavilion

The Rake's Progress

1:00pm

Music by Igor Stravinsky/Libretto by W.H. Auden & Chester Kallman

A debonair stranger, Nick Shadow, appears to Tom Rakewell and tempts him with the chance to reimagine his future. As Nick conjures a series of enticing adventures for Tom, Anne Trulove fights for Tom’s salvation. Written in Stravinsky’s neoclassical period, Stravinsky’s only full-length opera score sparkles with elegant vocal writing and lively dance rhythms.

Conductor | Joseph Colaneri

Director/Choreographer | Eric Sean Fogel

Set Designer | John Conklin

Costume Designer | Lynly Saunders

Lighting Designer | Robert Wierzel

Hair & Make-up | Tom Watson

Generously Sponsored by | Elizabeth M. and Jean-Marie R. Eveillard

Odyssey

7:30pm

Music by Ben Moore/Libretto by Kelley Rourke

Tickets: $20 | Youth (12 and younger) free

The Festival is proud to bring former Artistic & General Director Francesca Zambello’s acclaimed original production of Odyssey to the Alice Busch Opera Theater for the first time. Ben Moore and Kelley Rourke’s take on Homer’s epic tale is led by two members of the Resident Artist Program who serve as “Bards” and features the Glimmerglass Youth Ensemble. The first of six youth operas (and counting) commissioned by the Festival, Odyssey has traveled to stages across the country in the years following its premiere to standing-room crowds in 2015. Packed with rollicking choruses, tender ballads, and an irresistible siren song, this one-hour opera for all ages offers an engaging, fast-paced introduction to one of the greatest epics of all time.

Original Director | Francesca Zambello

Director | Eric Sean Fogel

Set Designer | Ryan McGettingan

Costume Designer | Erik Teague

Generously Sponsored by | Jacqueline B. Mars

Youth Tickets Generously Sponsored by | Van Broughton Ramsey and Robert Nelson

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