2025 Festival | June 8–15, 2025

PRE-OPERA TALKS

PRE-OPERA TALKS will precede all four performances of Keiser’s Octavia, offering audience members fascinating insights into Reinhard Keiser’s life and work. Each will take place at the Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre at the following times:

Sunday, June 8 at 2pm

The Power of Love and the Love of Power; presented by Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs, Musical Directors; Gilbert Blin, Stage Director; Robert Mealy, Orchestra Director; and Hubert Hazebroucq, Choreographer

Wednesday, June 11 at 5:30pm

The Power of Love and the Love of Power; presented by Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs, Musical Directors

Friday, June 13 at 5:30pm
Sunday, June 15 at 2pm

Keiser’s Octavia: Rivalry and Recompense; presented by John H. Roberts, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley

OTHER PRE-PERFORMANCE TALKS

Additional Pre-Opera and Pre-Concert Talks will be offered for the following select events:

Thursday, June 12 at 4pm | NEC’s Williams Hall
PRE-CONCERT TALK: Enrico Gatti, violin, Marcello Gatti, flute & Friends

“…they made the ears of the court and the city unusually attentive.” Telemann’s so-called Paris Quartets; presented by Dr. Carsten Lange, Director, Center for Telemann Research Magdeburg

Thursday, June 12 at 7pm | NEC’s Williams Hall
PRE-CONCERT TALK: BEMF Orchestra

The Water Music: On It or In It?; presented by Ellen T. Harris, Class of 1949 Professor Emeritus, MIT

Friday, June 13 at 2pm | First Church Boston
PRE-OPERA TALK: BEMF 2025 Young Artists Training Program: George Frideric Handel’s Agrippina

Nero (His Mother, His Wives, His Lovers): Once More With Feeling; presented by Ellen T. Harris, Class of 1949 Professor Emeritus, MIT

Saturday, June 14 at 7pm | NEC’s Williams Hall
PRE-OPERA TALK: Georg Philipp Telemann’s Pimpinone and Ino

Telemann’s Pimpinone and Ino; presented by Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs, Musical Directors, and Fynn Liess, Artistic Manager and Dramaturg, Center for Telemann Research Magdeburg