American bass to perform as Don Alfonso in Così during the 2026 Glimmerglass Festival season.
The Glimmerglass Festival is proud to announce acclaimed American bass Kevin Burdette as its 2026 Artist-in-Residence. Known for his comic brilliance, commanding voice, and captivating stage presence, Burdette will appear as Don Alfonso in the Festival’s new production of Così, anchoring a season that invites audiences to reflect on personal and national ideals.
Hailed by The New York Times as “the Robin Williams of opera,” Kevin Burdette has earned acclaim for his distinctive blend of humor, intelligence, and vocal mastery. An alumnus of the Juilliard Opera Theater and the University of Tennessee, Burdette is a former member of the OpĂ©ra National de Paris Young Artists’ Program and San Francisco’s Merola Opera Program.
He has performed with many of the world’s most prestigious opera companies and symphony orchestras, including Teatro alla Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Santa Fe Opera, Teatro Colón, Opéra de Montréal, Washington National Opera, Dallas Opera, Seattle Opera, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, and National Symphony Orchestra. Known for his dramatic characterizations, he has created over a dozen roles in world premieres and is regarded as one of the foremost interpreters of buffo repertoire in his generation.
Glimmerglass Festival Artistic & General Director Rob Ainsley remarked:
We are honored to welcome Kevin Burdette as our 2026 Artist-in-Residence. His reputation as one of the field’s most beloved colleagues and his peerless artistry — rich in humor, heart, and humanity — embody everything Glimmerglass stands for: excellence, community, and connection. Audiences are in for an unforgettable Così and a vibrant season full of music and storytelling.
As the 2026 Artist-in-Residence, Burdette will perform as Don Alfonso in Così and work closely with members of the Festival’s Resident Artists Program, an internationally recognized training program for emerging artists. The program provides training and performance experience for talented opera singers, musical theater singers and dancers, coaches and accompanists, conductors, and stage directors at the beginning of their professional careers.
Burdette shared the following about his upcoming residency with the Festival:
I am deeply moved to have been asked to serve as the 2026 Artist-in-Residence at The Glimmerglass Festival, an opera company that shaped who I am as an artist and as a person. I can think of no more meaningful way to return to this world-class company — this innovative company, this company that is deeply part of who I am — than in the capacity of working with the inspiring and top-tier Resident Artists. I look forward to investing in these talented artists, the future of our art form, helping to guide them, just as Glimmerglass guided me decades ago, to become the genesis of the stories they will tell throughout their careers — stories that will resonate with audiences, as they recognize their own uniqueness and commonalities taking shape on stage.
In addition to Così, the 2026 Festival will feature a new production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! directed by Francesca Zambello; Puccini, Illica, and Giacosa’s Madame Butterfly; Gregory Spears and Greg Pierce’s Fellow Travelers; and the youth opera Robin Hood by Ben Moore and Kelley Rourke. The season will also include special Pavilion events, including Vignettes: Ellis Island, a powerful song cycle inspired by real stories of early 20th-century immigrants, and Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s Happy End, presented as part of a new collaborative partnership with Opera Saratoga. From the wide-open plains of America’s heartland to the political tensions of the 1950s, the season offers unique perspectives on what it means to build, question, and carry forward the American Dream.
The 2026 Glimmerglass Festival runs July 10 – August 17, 2026, in Cooperstown, New York. Ticket packages are on sale now, with single tickets available beginning January 26, 2026.
For tickets and more information, call the Box Office at 607-547-2255.