Opera Saratoga’s Summer Festival presents site-specific, outdoor opera IN A GROVE, on May 28 & 29th at 5pm and 7pm at the Ferndell Pavilion in Saratoga Spa State Park.

Join Opera Saratoga in the Ferndell Pavilion with a site-specific installation version of a new opera, In a Grove, composed by Chris Cerrone with libretto by Stephanie Fleischmann featuring Chase Sanders (Leona), Chuanyuan Liu (Priest/Medium), Sadie Spivey (Leona’s Mother), Shavon Lloyd (Luther), Randy Ho (Ambrose), Wagner Mauricio Pastor (Policeman), and Geoffrey Schmelzer (Woodcutter). This site specific installation will feature sound design by Sam Torres and will be conducted by Luke Poeppel. This operatic adaptation of Akutagawa’s classic short story “In a Grove” which inspired the plot of Kurosawa’s renowned film Rashomon, offers a searing investigation into the impossibility and elusiveness of truth. The New York Times deemed the opera: “A vividly immersive thriller about the nature of truth and memory. Not a word or note is without dramaturgical purpose.”

Ticket buyers with mobility concerns should contact info@operasaratoga.org for accommodation. In case of rain, the company reserves May 31 at 5:00 PM and 7:00 PM for make-up performances due to weather-related cancellations.

Artistic Team:

Chris Cerrone, composer

Stephanie Fleischmann, librettist

Mary Birnbaum, director

Luke Poeppel, conductor

Sam Torres, sound designer

When:

Wednesday, May 28, 2025 – 5pm & 7pm

Thursday, May 29, 2025 – 5pm & 7pm

Performances are 1 hour.

Tickets are $30.

Where:

Ferndell Pavilion

Saratoga Spa State Park

N South Road

Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

For more information and to reserve tickets, please visit www.operasaratoga.org/inagrove

As we gather in Spa State Park, we are on the lands of the Mohican, the Mohawk and the Abenaki. Native communities have remained present and have thrived here in Saratoga in spite of centuries of settler colonial violence perpetrated against their lives and livelihoods. We recognize and respect the historical Indigenous inhabitants of this land, as well as Native communities across the Americas.

IN A GROVE is presented by arrangement with Schott Music Corporation, New York, publisher and copyright owner.

Opera Saratoga, Opera Saratoga, formerly known as Lake George Opera, began with a production of Die Fledermaus at the Diamond Point Theatre on July 5, 1962, playing to an audience of 230. The Company now calls Saratoga Springs home and performs for more than 25,000 people annually. Opera Saratoga celebrates its 60th Anniversary this season. The company serves the communities of Saratoga Springs, the Lower Adirondack and New York State Capital areas by providing access to world-class opera through the production of an annual Summer Festival, as well as year-round activities including extensive educational programs, mentorship of emerging operatic artists, and unique opportunities for the public to experience opera in both our home theater and non-traditional venues that leverage and embrace the unique cultural, historic, and natural resources of the area. To date, the company has performed 108 different fully staged works by 69 different composers, including 44 works by American composers and 15 premiere productions. Opera Saratoga’s staff includes General and Artistic Director Mary Birnbaum, Executive Director Amanda Robie and the Head of Music Staff and Festival Artist Program, Laurie Rogers. For more information, visit www.operasaratoga.org.

Mary Birnbaum is a New York based director of opera and music theater. In 2024, she directed critically acclaimed productions of Rigoletto (Lyric Opera of Chicago), Guys and Dolls (Opera Saratoga), and ÉMIGRÉ (World Premiere, New York Philharmonic). Other credits include new productions of La bohème (Santa Fe Opera), Dido and Aeneas (Juilliard, Opera Holland Park, Opéra de Versailles), L’Orfeo (Juilliard, NYTimes “Best of Classical Music 2021”), Otello (National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan), L’elisir d’amore (National Theater of Costa Rica) and many more. In demand for her skills as a collaborator on new work, Birnbaum has directed world premieres by contemporary artists including Jeremy Denk and Steven Stucky (The Classical Style at Ojai and Carnegie Hall), Frank London and Elise Thoron (Hatuey at Montclair Peak Performances), Mark Campbell and Kristin Kuster (Kept at Virginia Arts Festival). She directed the premiere of Chris Cerrone and Stephanie Fleischmann’s In a Grove at Pittsburgh Opera in 2022, which will play at the Prototype Festival in Jan 2025. On the faculty of The Juilliard School since 2011, Birnbaum serves as the Dramatic Advisor to the MMGD program. She coaches at the Lindemann Young Artists Program at The Metropolitan Opera. In 2023, she became the General and Artistic director of Opera Saratoga in Saratoga Springs, New York. A graduate of Harvard College, Mary Birnbaum trained professionally in physical theater at L’École Jacques Lecoq in Paris.

For more about Opera Saratoga’s 2025 season, visit www.operasaratoga.org.

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