MACBETH Opens at Glimmerglass Festival

Verdi's Macbeth opened at The Glimmerglass Festival July 11 in the company's first-ever production of the Shakespearean drama.

Returning Artist in Residence Eric Owens makes his role debut as the title character. The Grammy Award-winning bass-baritone is joined onstage by Melody Moore, who returns to the Glimmerglass stage as his scheming wife, Lady Macbeth. Moore was seen as Senta in the 2013 Glimmerglass production of The Flying Dutchman.

SITI Company Artistic Director Anne Bogart returns to direct the new production, with choreography by fellow SITI Company member Barney O'Hanlon.

"The Tragedy of Macbeth is one of Western civilization's most iconic and powerful tales about blind ambition and hubris," Bogart said. "William Shakespeare mined the story for its dark and powerful drama, charting the psychological and political effects of evil action. Infatuated with Shakespeare's play, Giuseppe Verdi created his own operatic version, returning to it throughout his life to revise and expand. The result of Verdi's obsession is an opera that combines gripping drama and great music."

Glimmerglass Festival Music Director Joseph Colaneri, who conducted last year's Madame Butterfly at Glimmerglass, conducts Macbeth.

"I've always been fascinated by Verdi's love and admiration for William Shakespeare," Colaneri said. "Verdi was struck by Shakespeare's Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and succeeded in creating a musical representation of these two characters that not only seeks to capture their dramatic essence in music but also to create a unique manner of vocal delivery that goes beyond anything Verdi had conceived before."

Soloman Howard plays the role of wise, but doomed, Banquo in his first appearance at Glimmerglass. In addition to singing Sarastro in Glimmerglass' The Magic Flute, the alumnus of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artists Program has performed the same Flute role, as well as the Lion in The Lion, the Unicorn, and Me at Washington National Opera.

Macbeth runs in repertory with Mozart's The Magic Flute, Bernstein's Candide and Vivaldi's Cato in Utica. The mainstage productions will be complemented by concerts, lectures, backstage tours and question-and-answer sessions with the creative teams.

For more information on the 2015 Glimmerglass Festival and performance dates and times, call the Box Office at (607) 547-2255 or visit www.glimmerglass.org.

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