Eastman Opera Theatre Announces 2025-2026 Season Including World Premiere Performance

Eastman Opera Theatre (EOT) unveils its 2025–2026 season, reaffirming its commitment to presenting contemporary and reimagined works—productions that, as Director of Production Pat Diamond puts it, “challenge and expand our understanding of what makes an opera ‘an opera.’” With a lineup that includes a world premiere composed by an Eastman alum, a psychological thriller, a condensed French masterpiece, and a reimagined classic operetta, this season offers audiences the chance to experience opera in new and interesting ways.

A FALL PRESENTATION OF ONE-ACTSOperas alternate between evenings

“CLICK!” (2025) — World Premiere | October 30 & November 1 in Kilbourn Hall

Music by Steve Bramson; Libretto by Gayle HudsonDirected by Pat Diamond; Conducted by Timothy LongSung in English with chamber orchestra.

Eastman alum Steve Bramson ’83E (MM), a Daytime Emmy Award winner and three-time ASCAP winner, teamed up with librettist Gayle Hudson to tell the story of Hungarian photographer André Kertész. CLICK! is a new opera based on the life and legacy of Kertész and his wife, Elizabeth, and it will make its world premiere at the Eastman School of Music this fall. Set across the cities they called home—Budapest, Paris, and New York—this story explores exile, artistic identity, and love’s enduring force through the shifting political and socioeconomic tides of the twentieth century. With a score that invokes Phillip Glass and Stephen Sondheim, CLICK! features a cast of three singers and one spoken role. This production coincides with a related exhibition at the George Eastman Museum: American Born, Hungary: Kertész, Capa, and the Hungarian American Photographic Legacy.

“In a Grove” (2021) | October 31 & November 2 in Kilbourn Hall

Music by Christopher Cerrone; Libretto by Stephanie FleischmannDirected by Joelle Lachance; Conducted by Timothy LongSung in English with chamber orchestra.

Inspired by Japanese author Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’s short story and Akira Kurosawa’s acclaimed film Rashōmon, In a Grove unfolds as a haunting, nonlinear investigation into the disappearance of a young woman and the murder of her husband in a burned Oregon forest. Set in 1921, the story is told by a string of unreliable narrators—witnesses offering conflicting accounts of what happened to the girl. “The crux of this show is the fallibility of memory,” comments director Joelle Lachance ’25E (DMA). “It bends the truth until you believe that what you ‘remember’ is what actually happened.” This is Lachance’s second directorial project with EOT and she is the first student to helm an opera presented in Kilbourn Hall. She recently earned a doctorate in Vocal Performance and Literature and is now pursuing a master’s degree in Stage Direction. Due to sensitive subject matter involving violence and sexual assault, this opera is not recommended for children.

WINTER VOICE FESTIVAL

“Impressions de Pelléas” (1992) | January 29, 30, 31, February 1 in Annex 804

Music by Claude Debussy; Adapted by Marius ConstantDirected by Pat Diamond; Conducted by Wilson SoutherlandSung in French with two pianos.

This chamber adaptation of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande distills the original into an intimate, 100-minute experience, reimagined for two pianos and voice. The opera explores a tangle of emotion, secrecy, and longing, centered on the mysterious Mélisande and the fraught relationship between two brothers who love her. Performed in Eastman’s black box theatre, Impressions de Pelléas invites the audience into close proximity with the cast for an immersive concert experience.

“TWENTY-FOUR,” or “The Cure for Love” (2022) | February 5, 6, 7 & 8 in Annex 804

Conception, musical arrangements & orchestrations by Tony BouttéOriginal scenario & English dialogue by Chas Rader-Shieber & Tony BouttéMusic Directed by Alison D’Amato.

TWENTY-FOUR is a snappy, modern opera about the futility of trying to control love. Lord Tirsi has often stepped in to advise and help young lovers with his potions and remedies, but after 24 years of bitterness, he has reached his breaking point. When one final scheme backfires, chaos is unleashed and forces everyone to confront the true nature of love. Will budding romance be thwarted, or will fate and reason prevail?

Second Annual “songSLAM Eastman” | February 7 in Sproull Atrium

Presented in collaboration with Sparks & Wiry Cries for the second year in a row, Eastman is partnering with Sparks & Wiry Cries to bring songSLAM to Rochester. This event is a unique opportunity for composer-performer teams to premiere new art songs and compete for cash prizes. Each team presents an original composition of five minutes or less for voice and one other instrument in any language. In the poetry slam tradition, the audience votes on their favorites and prizes are awarded. Registration information to be announced.

SPRING MAINSTAGE PRODUCTION

“Die Fledermaus” (1874) | April 9, 10, 11 & 12 in Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre

Music by Johann Strauss II; Libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard GenéeDirected by Octavio Cardenas; Conducted by Timothy LongSung in German with English dialogue and full orchestra.

Closing the season in the gorgeous Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre, EOT’s lively take on Die Fledermaus brings the charm, wit, and champagne-fueled shenanigans of this timeless operetta into the spotlight. “This Die Fledermaus spins beneath the glitter ball of Studio 54, where Strauss meets sequins, and mistaken identity dances to a disco beat,” exclaims director Octavio Cardenas. “In a world of excess, glamour, and liberation, the masks are bolder, the lies shinier, and the hangover just as delicious.” From mistaken identities and elaborate disguises to revenge schemes and late-night revelry, this joyful tale of Vienna’s elite is not to be missed.

Tickets to all EOT performances will be sold through Eastman’s Box Office website, though they are not yet available for purchase.

Media only: Lauren Sageer, Assistant Director of Public Relations and Digital Content,(585) 451-8492, lsageer@esm.rochester.edu

###

About Eastman Opera Theatre:

Eastman Opera Theatre offers a comprehensive program of training and performance opportunities for the modern singer-actor. Each year, productions feature a wide range of musical styles, unusual lyric forms, and both traditional and contemporary repertoire that prepare the motivated student for the professional lyric theater world of tomorrow.

Most productions have two complete principal casts (given an equal number of performances), are fully designed, performed in the original language, and depending on the venue, use full orchestral accompaniment. Studio productions, scenes programs, and outreach events are also offered to further enhance the variety of performance opportunities. Eastman Opera Theatre utilizes both undergraduate and graduate students in all roles for all productions. 

Recent and past productions include Prestini and Vavrek’s Silent Light; Golijov’s Ainadamar; Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas; Davis’ Lear on the 2nd Floor; Sondheim’s Into the Woods; Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea; Glass’ Hydrogen Jukebox and Les Enfants Terribles; Guettel’s The Light in the Piazza; Gordon’s The Tibetan Book of the Dead; Mozart’s Don Giovanni; and Puts’ Elizabeth Cree.  EOT is committed to working with living composers and librettists. Recent production collaborators have included Anthony Davis, Adam Guettel, Jake Heggie, Gene Scheer, Ricky Ian Gordon, Kevin Puts, and Mark Campbell.

About Eastman School of Music:

The Eastman School of Music was founded in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman (1854–1932), founder of Eastman Kodak Company. It was the first professional school of the University of Rochester. Mr. Eastman’s dream was that his school would provide a broad education in the liberal arts as well as superb musical training.

More than 900 students are enrolled in the Collegiate Division of the Eastman School of Music—about 500 undergraduates and 400 graduate students. They come from almost every state, and approximately 23 percent are from other countries. They are taught by a faculty comprised of more than 170 highly regarded performers, composers, conductors, scholars, and educators. They are Pulitzer Prize winners, Grammy winners, Emmy winners, Guggenheim fellows, ASCAP Award recipients, published authors, recording artists, and acclaimed musicians who have performed in the world’s greatest concert halls. Each year, Eastman’s students, faculty members, and guest artists present more than 900 concerts to the Rochester community. Additionally, more than 1,700 members of the Rochester community, from young children through senior citizens, are enrolled in the Eastman Community Music School.

About the University of Rochester:

The University of Rochester is one of the nation’s leading private research universities, one of only 62-member institutions in the Association of American Universities. Located in Rochester, N.Y., the University gives undergraduates exceptional opportunities for interdisciplinary study and close collaboration with faculty through its unique cluster-based curriculum. Its College, School of Arts and Sciences, and Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences are complemented by the Eastman School of Music, Simon School of Business, Warner School of Education, Laboratory for Laser Energetics, School of Medicine and Dentistry, School of Nursing, Eastman Institute for Oral Health, and the Memorial Art Gallery.