Name: Vignettes: Ellis Island
Start: 2026-08-13T17:00:00
Location: Glimmerglass Festival

The Glimmerglass Festival 2026 promises to be a vibrant tapestry of musical and operatic storytelling, featuring a diverse lineup of performances that celebrate both classic and contemporary works. From the timeless romance of 'Oklahoma!' to the poignant narratives in 'Vignettes: Ellis Island,' this year's festival offers audiences a chance to experience the breadth of human emotion and history through the power of music. Renowned directors and conductors, including Francesca Zambello and Joseph Colaneri, bring these masterpieces to life, making the festival a must-see for culture enthusiasts.

Glimmerglass Festival 2026: A Symphony of Stories and Cultures

The Glimmerglass Festival 2026 is set to be a compelling cultural extravaganza, featuring a diverse roster of musical and operatic works that touch upon themes of love, cultural intersection, and historical reflection. From the iconic Rodgers & Hammerstein's 'Oklahoma!' to the deeply moving 'Vignettes: Ellis Island,' this season promises a rich tapestry of performances that celebrate creativity and the human spirit. Directed by renowned artists like Francesca Zambello and Joshua Horowitz, and performed by talented musicians under the baton of esteemed conductors such as James Lowe and Joseph Colaneri, this year's festival is not to be missed.

Glimmerglass Festival 2026: A Tapestry of Musical Masterpieces and Dramatic Narratives

The Glimmerglass Festival 2026 promises an exciting array of performances, featuring a wide spectrum of musical and operatic presentations. From the frontier optimism of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s 'Oklahoma!' to the poignant cultural critique of Puccini’s 'Madame Butterfly', this season invites audiences to explore the stories and moments that shaped the world. With fresh productions like 'Vignettes: Ellis Island' and 'Robin Hood', the festival offers a unique blend of historical resonance and contemporary relevance, providing a stage for both seasoned performers and emerging talents.

Glimmerglass Festival 2026: Celebrating Artistic Diversity and Cultural Reflection

The Glimmerglass Festival 2026 promises an unforgettable summer of rich narratives, cultural exploration, and musical brilliance in Cooperstown, NY. This year's lineup includes an audacious rendition of 'Oklahoma!', the delicate beauty of 'Madame Butterfly', the profound 'Happy End', the adventurous 'Robin Hood', and the evocative 'Vignettes: Ellis Island'. Each performance uniquely contributes to a tapestry of artistic endeavors, inviting audiences to reflect on history, culture, and the human experience.

Glimmerglass Festival 2026: A Celebration of Timeless Arts and New Narratives

Maeve Berry

Edward Sturm

Glimmerglass Festival

Toast the opening of the 2026 Festival with family and friends over a delicious dinner buffet! Artistic & General Director Rob Ainsley will kick off the Opening Night Festival Dinner with a warm welcome back to Artistic & General Director Emerita Francesca Zambello. Together, Rob and Francesca will discuss her productions of Oklahoma! and Madame Butterfly and share reflections on the company’s past and future.

Opening Night Festival Dinner 2026

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s beloved musical returns to the Alice Busch Opera Theater in a bold new production directed by Francesca Zambello and conducted by James Lowe. Set on the cusp of statehood, Oklahoma! celebrates the dreams and complexities of settlers forging new lives on the frontier. This fresh staging evokes both the grandeur of the American landscape and the optimism of the artists who created the work as World War II raged. Oklahoma! is many things: a landmark of musical theater, a grand love story, and an invitation to reflect on the promise of America.

Oklahoma!

Alice Busch Opera Theater of Cooperstown 

Francesca Zambello’s acclaimed production of Madame Butterfly returns to Glimmerglass, directed by Joshua Horowitz and conducted by Joseph Colaneri. This elegant, visually stunning staging presents a nuanced examination of the American presence in Japan and the cultural collision at the heart of Puccini’s timeless masterpiece.

Madame Butterfly

Enjoy dinner, drinks, and conversation with friends and artists from the 2026 Festival. The Horned Dorset will cater all Festival Dinners. Menus are available in the spring; vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options are always available.

Festival Dinners 2026

Mozart’s sparkling comedy about love, loyalty, and deception takes on new life in an American college setting. Featuring an updated libretto in English by Kelley Rourke, this fresh adaptation directed by Eric Einhorn and conducted by Joseph Colaneri puts human nature to the test in an experiment that soon spins out of control — what happens when the game goes too far? With sharp humor and surprising twists, Così brings a contemporary edge to Mozart’s classic “school for lovers,” asking what women — and men — are really like.

Così

The Alice Busch Opera Theater

Set during the 1950s “Lavender Scare,” Fellow Travelers follows two men whose romantic involvement becomes a dangerous secret in an era of government surveillance and fear. Recognized as one of the most widely performed and talked-about new American operas of the past decade, Fellow Travelers is based on Thomas Mallon’s acclaimed novel (recently adapted as a CBS/Paramount+ limited series).

Fellow Travelers

Religion and capitalism collide in this sharp, jazz-infused musical satire by Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht, and Elisabeth Hauptmann. Banned after just two performances in 1929 Berlin, Happy End is a satire of big business and big religion set in a smoky speakeasy where gangsters do deals, and the Salvation Army saves souls. With an unforgettable score that includes “Bilbao Song,” “Mandalay Song,” and “Surabaya Johnny,” Happy End blazes with wit, grit, and dark glamour.

Happy End will be music directed by Artistic & General Director Rob Ainsley, and feature Ana Karneža, a Juilliard drama graduate who won the Kurt Weill Foundation’s Lotte Lenya Competition in 2024. The production will be directed by Mary Birnbaum, General & Artistic Director of Opera Saratoga, in collaboration with Glimmerglass Festival Dramaturg Kelley Rourke. Happy End is presented as part of a historic new collaborative partnership between The Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Saratoga, Finger Lakes Opera, and the Seagle Festival, with 11 performances touring to eight venues across New York State and Western Massachusetts, and presented in the Glimmerglass Pavilion.

Happy End

Continuing Glimmerglass’s proud tradition of sharing opera for and with young people, the 2026 season will feature a new production of Robin Hood, which Francesca Zambello commissioned for the Festival and directed in 2017. When the law of the land is corrupt, what’s an honest citizen to do? In the absence of the King, the Sheriff has seized the country’s assets for himself and his cronies. Robin Hood is the unlikely leader of a band of ordinary folks doing their best to survive in the forest until just rule returns to the land. This season, Robin Hood will take the mainstage at the Alice Busch Opera Theater, giving local youth performers the opportunity to collaborate with Festival artists and creative teams. 

Robin Hood

Join Artist-in-Residence Kevin Burdette and Artistic & General Director Rob Ainsley as they take you on a journey inward. In this intimate presentation, Schubert’s great song cycle, Winterreise, will be framed by three companion pieces — performed by 2026 Resident Artists — that serve as musical bookends and reflection points along the journey. The result will be a richly layered evening of music that reflects on solitude, longing, and memory.

The Road Home: Schubert's Winterreise

A powerful song cycle inspired by real stories of early 20th-century immigrants, Vignettes: Ellis Island gives voice to those who passed through one of America’s most iconic gateways. Drawing on interviews from the Ellis Island Oral History Project, composer Alan Louis Smith brings to life the resilience, hope, and humanity at the heart of the immigrant experience through twenty deeply moving musical portraits.

Vignettes: Ellis Island

Opera by day, party by night. When the curtain falls on the final Friday of the Festival, the night is just getting started. Grab a drink, hit the silent disco, and settle in by a fire for a late-night hang with friends, old and new. Set against a perfect summer night, enjoy food trucks, music, and plenty of space to unwind. The perfect send-off to the season, it’s the Festival’s last — and liveliest — Friday night. Free to attend. Cash Bar & Food Trucks.

Vignettes: Ellis Island

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