Guggenheim Works & Process to Present Glimmerglass Festival New Works With Francesca Zambello

Francesca Zambello, the artistic and general director of the Glimmerglass Festival, introduces creators and excerpts from the upcoming 2022 festival, which includes a record number of new works: Composer Damien Geter and librettist Lila Palmer's Holy Ground begins in a dystopian version of the present, in which the messiah has not yet appeared; can a rookie angel persuade a modern girl to take on the task, staving off the apocalypse?

Tenor Overboard is a pastiche of lesser-known Rossini showpieces, with a hilarious new book by playwright Ken Ludwig. Composer Kamala Sankaram and librettist Jerre Dye's Taking Up Serpents explores faith, family, and destiny through the eyes of the estranged daughter of a fire-and-brimstone preacher who is dangerously bitten by one of his own snakes. And, lastly, The Jungle Book, by composer Kamala Sankaram and librettist Kelley Rourke, reframes Rudyard Kipling's classic tale as a refugee story, with a score that blends Western and Indian classical traditions.

Glimmerglass Festival New Works is set for Sunday, May 22 at 7:30 pm ET. For more info and tickets, visit https://www.guggenheim.org/event/glimmerglass-festival-new-works.

PANEL

Lila Palmer, librettist, Holy Ground

Kelley Rourke, librettist, The Jungle Book

Kamala Sankaram, composer, Taking Up Serpents

Chloe Treat, director, Holy Ground and Taking Up Serpents

Francesca Zambello, moderator

PERFORMERS

Jasmine Habersham, soprano

Mary-Hollis Hundley, soprano

Kamala Sankaram, soprano

Preeti Vasudevan, dancer

Grant Wenaus, pianist

Leadership support for this Works & Process is provided by Eugene and Jean Stark.

Pictured: Alice Busch Opera Theater at The Glimmerglass Festival