2025 Gala

TABLES OF 10

Jubilee Table | $50,000

Platinum Table | $25,000

Gold Table | $15,000

SINGLE TICKETS

Silver Ticket | $2,500

Bronze Ticket | $1,500

Dessert & Dancing Only Ticket | $249

To inquire about tickets or to request more information, please contact Amy Tompkins
(607) 547-0700 ext. 212 | atompkins@glimmerglass.org

2025 gala artists

Glimmerglass Artistic & General Director Rob Ainsley previously served as the Director of the Washington National Opera’s Cafritz Resident Artists Program and the American Opera Initiative, where he commissioned, developed, and premiered more than 30 new works. Ainsley was Associate Music Director at Portland Opera, Head of Music Staff and Chorus Master at Minnesota Opera and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, a guest Chorus Master at English National Opera, and Co-Founder and Principal Conductor of the Greenwich Music Festival. He is an alumnus of the University of Cambridge, Mannes College of Music, and the Lindemann Resident Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera.

A rising star in the world of contemporary opera, Justin Burgess returns to Washington National Opera this season to sing the role of Paul Jobs in The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs. In Fall 2024, he made his debut with Opera Las Vegas as Adraste in the world premiere of Conrad Cummings and Mark Campbell’s Again & Again & Again, performed Barber’s Dover Beach with the Kennedy Center Chamber Players, was the baritone soloist in Carmina Burana with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, and covered Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia at Lyric Opera of Kansas City. Burgess recently completed his tenure as a Cafritz Resident Artist at WNO, where he sang Schuanard in La bohème, Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette, A Mobster/The Guide in Songbird, and Donkey in Jeanine Tesori’s The Lion, the Unicorn, and Me. This summer, he will be returning to Glimmerglass as a Resident Artist to sing roles in both Sunday in the Park with George and Odyssey. 

Renowned for his versatility, musical depth, and ability to “inspire musicians,” Glimmerglass Festival Music Director Joseph Colaneri is recognized as a multifaceted presence at the podium. An international conductor equally adept with operatic, oratorio, and symphonic repertoire, Colaneri has been on the Metropolitan Opera’s roster since 1998 and recently retired as Artistic Director at Mannes College—The New School for Music. He was also Artistic Director of the West Australian Opera in Perth from 2012-14. Colaneri led more than 60 performances with New York City Opera and has worked with many other distinguished companies such as Den Norske Opera, Portland Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Orlando Opera, UCLA, and the San Francisco Opera Center. Orchestras with which he has guested include the Tokyo Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and the Chautauqua Symphony.  

American baritone Troy Cook’s 2024-2025 season began with his home company, Opera Philadelphia, singing the role of Paul Devon in the North American premiere of The Listeners. A champion of new music, he bows in Virginia Opera’s world premiere, Loving v. Virginia (Geter/Murphy Moo), portraying ACLU attorney Bernard Cohen. Cook joins Spoleto Festival USA, reprising the role of Athanael in a newly produced concert version of Thaïs. Also during the season, Cook revives his hugely popular Major-General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance for Knoxville Opera, bows as Giorgio Germont in Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra’s performances of La traviata (conducted by JoAnn Falletta), joins the American Symphony Orchestra for a concert of works by C.P.E. Bach, and sings Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. An alumnus of the Resident Artist Program, Cook was last seen on the Glimmerglass stage in 2024 as Tonio in Pagliacci. 

A native Italian, Stefano de Peppo began his career as a boy soprano in the Children’s Chorus of La Scala in Milan. After graduating at Civica Scuola di Musica in Milano, he moved to London and studied at Royal College of Music and with private teachers. He then moved to Mexico City and made his debut as a very young bass-baritone at Bellas Artes Opera House in 1990. In the year 2000 he moved to New York City where he now resides. Leporello (Don Giovanni), Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), Don Magnifico (La Cenerentola), Bartolo (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Publio (La Clemenza di Tito) are some of the roles that opened the doors for an international career. His vocal and acting skills, plus his crisp diction and musicality, have made him an acclaimed specialist in the comic Italian/French repertory of the 18th and 19th century. A familiar favorite at Glimmerglass, he was last seen on stage in 2023 in Romeo and Juliet and La bohème. 

Hailed as a “magnificent” mezzo-soprano (Pro Ópera), Taylor-Alexis DuPont has engaged audiences internationally. Since graduating with her Masters in Voice from the Peabody Conservatory, she has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Cincinnati Opera, and The Glimmerglass Festival, among many others. This season, she returns to Opera Philadelphia in Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s The Listeners as Emily and Angela (cover), and later joins Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in their New Works Collective as Makena in the world premiere of Concert Black/Alicia Revé Like’s Black Coffee, North Carolina Opera in The Passion of Mary Cardwell Dawson as Phoebe, and Opera Orlando in the title role of Treemonisha. A former Glimmerglass Resident Artist, DuPont will return this season as Sally in The House on Mango Street and Nurse/Mrs./Harriet Pawling in Sunday in the Park with George.   

Eric Sean Fogel has been at The Glimmerglass Festival for 15 seasons as the Head of Stage Movement and Choreography. He has created over 30 new productions for the Festival and will be returning in 2025 as the Director and Choreographer of The Rake’s Progress. He is also a Guest Stage Director at the Metropolitan Opera and the Revival Director for Norma and The Magic Flute. World Premieres include: The Lion, The Unicorn, and Me by Jeanine Tesori; Artus! Excalibur by Frank Wildhorn; Odyssey, Wilde Tales, and Robin Hood for Glimmerglass; Princess Butterfly for XSBN in China; and Songbird, co-created with Jim Lowe and Kelley Rourke. A long-time collaborator of Francesca Zambello, his Kennedy Center credits include: Porgy and Bess; Songbird; Samson and Delilah; Don Giovanni; Candide; West Side Story; The Little Prince; Florencia en el Amazonas; The Lion, The Unicorn, and Me; and La forza del destino.

Praised by Opera News as a “high-quality lyric soprano with a keen verbal nuance,” soprano Keely Futterer has been seen in performances across the globe. Career highlights of Ms. Futterer include the leading ladies of Elle in La voix humaine, the title role of Suor Angelica, Adina in L’elisir d’amore, and Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro. She has also performed in many new works, most recently as Angostura LaBelle in the pastiche Tenor Overboard, a new production spearheaded by Francesca Zambello and The Glimmerglass Festival, where she has spent two summers as a Resident Artist. This season, Ms. Futterer will make debuts at Virginia Opera in Così fan tutte (Fiordiligi) and Chicago Opera Theater in Leonora (Marcellina) and returns to Madison Opera for Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina). On the concert stage, Keely returns to Memphis Symphony Orchestra for Messiah and Erie Philharmonic for Verdi’s Messa da Requiem. 

Soprano Christine Goerke has appeared in the major opera houses of the world including the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival (where she began her career as a Resident Artist), Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Paris Opera, La Scala, among many others. She has sung much of the great soprano repertoire, starting with the Mozart and Handel heroines and now earning critical acclaim for the dramatic Strauss and Wagner roles. This season, Ms. Goerke returns to the Boston Symphony Orchestra for both Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 and as Marie in concert performances of Die Tote Stadt, the Los Angeles Philharmonic for Gurre-Lieder with Zubin Mehta, and the Washington National Opera for an evening of Wagner highlights at the Kennedy Center. She also sings Marie in Wozzeck at the Hamburg State Opera and appears in concert with the New World Symphony and the Minnesota Orchestra. 

Praised for her “high-octane emotionalism” (Parterre), Lydia Grindatto is a current Resident Artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts, where she recently appeared in the roles of Anna in Anna Bolena, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Violetta in La traviata and Tatyana in Eugene Onegin. In 2024,  Lydia made her house debuts with Arizona Opera and Columbus Opera, reprising the roles of Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and Tatyana in Eugene Onegin. This season, Lydia makes five role debuts and four house debuts, including her European debut as Léonore in Verdi’s Le Trouvère. Other performances include Marguerite in Gounod’s Faust (Academy of Vocal Arts), Nedda in Pagliacci (Utah Opera), and Anne Trulove in The Rake’s Progress (The Glimmerglass Festival).

Hailing from Woodbridge, Virginia, Shyheim Selvan Hinnant is a multi-disciplinary artist who puts the “tone” in bass-baritone. As a singer, songwriter, actor, and electric bass player, he has dedicated his life to creating art and inspiring others. He received a Master of Music degree from the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. Before pursuing his master’s, Shyheim earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from Virginia Commonwealth University. He also earned a certificate of completion from the Conservatorio di Milano’s Erasmus program. Currently, he is pursuing a Master of Musical Arts degree from Yale University under the tutelage of mezzo-soprano Adriana Zabala. His favorite roles include Simone (Gianni Schicchi), Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), and Colline (La bohème), to name a few. This summer, Shyheim will be a Resident Artist at The Glimmerglass Festival, where he will sing Preacher Man in The House on Mango Street.

Three-time Grammy Award-winning artist Isabel Leonard has established herself as one of the most in-demand performers and a star on the world’s leading stages and screens. This season sees Ms. Leonard’s much-anticipated return to Opéra National de Paris as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia and her house debut with Gran Teatre del Liceu as Anita in a concert performance of Bernstein’s West Side Story. Ms. Leonard also returns to Houston Grand Opera to sing Angelina in Cenerentola and for her directorial debut leading the HGO Family Day production of Cinderella, as well as The Metropolitan Opera as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia. Orchestral appearances include performances of Les Nuits d’été with Kevin John Edusei conducting the New York Philharmonic, and Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony conducted by music director Courtney Lewis.

Marina Pires is a Brazilian actor and singer-songwriter based in New York’s Hudson Valley. As a songwriter, Marina’s lyrics have been featured in the Off-Broadway musical A Never-Ending Line & on Broadway Records’ Songs by an Immigrant with Jaime Lozano. She performs regularly throughout NYC at Joe’s Pub, 54 Below, Greenroom 42, and Rockwood Music Hall, and nationally with her band The Heartstrings Project. Past credits include: Ashley Amigo in How to Dance in Ohio (Syracuse Stage), Conchita in Anna in the Tropics (Barrington Stage), Gloria Estefan in On Your Feet! (Broadway First National Tour & Regional), PHISH (Madison Square Garden), Vanessa in In The Heights (Dallas Theatre Center), Evita (Asolo Rep), and Rapunzel in Into The Woods (Arsht Center with Tituss Burgess). This summer, Marina will be making her Glimmerglass debut as Dot/Marie in Sunday in the Park with George. 

Tenor Jonathan Pierce Rhodes has emerged as an exciting young presence in the world of opera, drawing attention and admiration from audiences and critics alike. This season, Rhodes made his role debut as Timothy Laughlin in Gregory Spears’s Fellow Travelers with Opera Parallèle. Shortly after, he made his highly anticipated house debut with The Lyric Opera Chicago, where he reprised his role as Policeman 2 in Jeanine Tesori and Tazewell Thompson’s critically acclaimed opera (and Glimmerglass Festival commission), Blue. Rhodes is a recent graduate of the Washington National Opera’s Cafritz Resident Artist program. During his residency there, he performed several roles, including Pong in a brand-new production of Turandot directed by Francesca Zambello. Rhodes has been honored to spend three summers as a Resident Artist at The Glimmerglass Festival, most recently seen in 2023 as Cacambo in Candide. 

Hailing from the Midwest, John Riddle recently played the final performance on Broadway as Raoul in the historic 35 year run of The Phantom of the Opera. He also originated the Broadway roles of Hans in Disney’s Frozen and Young Anton in The Visit opposite Broadway legend Chita Rivera. He was nominated for a Lortel Award for the role of Cal Hockley, which he created for the Off-Broadway hit Titanique. Other New York credits include The Secret Garden in Concert at Lincoln Center and Cinderella’s Prince in Into the Woods at Town Hall. He has also been a featured soloist with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra and The Naples Opera. John can be heard on the original Broadway cast recordings of Frozen and The Visit, as well as John Kander’s Hidden Treasures. He is a graduate of the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). This summer, John will make his Glimmerglass debut as George in Sunday in the Park with George. 

Yongzhao Yu, who won the Audience Choice Award and the Ana María Martínez Encouragement Award in Houston Grand Opera’s 2015 Eleanor McCollum Competition, continues to make important debuts throughout the United States and abroad. This season, he returns to the Metropolitan Opera as A Messenger in Aida, as well as Rodolfo (cover) in La bohème, a role that he took to the stage in January for a jump-in performance. Yu also makes his English National Opera debut as the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto. In recent seasons, he has graced the stage with Houston Grand Opera, Irish National Opera, Seattle Opera, New Orleans Opera, Arizona Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, and Berkshire Opera Festival. This summer, Yu will make his Glimmerglass debut as Mario Cavaradossi in Tosca.