Festival honored with inaugural Musical Theatre Award for
Sunday in the Park with George.
The Glimmerglass Festival has been named a winner at the 2025 International Opera Awards, receiving the inaugural Musical Theatre Award for its 2025 production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Sunday in the Park with George. Directed by Ethan Heard, conducted by Maestro Michael Ellis Ingram, and featuring Broadway performers John Riddle and Marina Pires in the principal roles, the production was hailed for its “glorious” artistry and for exemplifying the creative bridge between opera and Broadway.
Presented annually since 2013, the International Opera Awards celebrate excellence in opera worldwide. This year’s ceremony, held on November 13, 2025, at the Greek National Opera in Athens and livestreamed globally via OperaVision, recognized artists and companies from 25 countries, selected from more than 14,000 nominations.
“This recognition celebrates not only Glimmerglass’s commitment to artistic excellence, but also our belief that opera and musical theater share the same expressive heart,” said Artistic & General Director Rob Ainsley. “Sunday in the Park with George reminded us of the power of collaboration and imagination and highlights the Festival’s reputation for adventurous programming that redefines what opera can be — it’s thrilling to be honored on an international stage.”
The win marks the Festival’s first International Opera Award and the first year Musical Theatre was recognized by the awards.
The 2026 Glimmerglass Festival will feature a new production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! directed by Francesca Zambello; Puccini, Illica, and Giacosa’s Madame Butterfly; Mozart and Da Ponte’s Così; 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 and Kurt Weill, Elisabeth Hauptmann, 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, visit glimmerglass.org or call the Box Office at 607-547-2255.
For more information about the International Opera Awards and to view the complete list of 2025 winners, visit www.operaawards.org.