Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

The GRAMMY-winning Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Opera Series presents Telemann’s Don Quichotte on Thanksgiving weekend in Boston with additional performances in New York, NY and Troy, NY

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Cambridge, MA – The GRAMMY Award-winning Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Opera Series returns on Thanksgiving weekend with an all-new production of Telemann’s Don Quichotte. Cervantes’s wayward knight is brought to life through the irresistible music of Georg Philipp Telemann. The production will be performed twice in Boston on Saturday, November 30, and Sunday, December 1 before going on tour with a concert version on Tuesday, December 3, presented by the Morgan Library & Museum in New York, NY, and a final staged performance in Troy, NY on Saturday, December 7 at the historic Troy Savings Bank Music Hall. A virtual presentation will follow, available to watch from Sunday, December 15 through Sunday, December 29.

A company of 37 singers, dancers, instrumentalists, and directors have been assembled for this rare staged performance of Telemann’s festive serenata, Don Quichotte auf der Hochzeit des Comacho, which sees Don Quixote and his squire Sancho Panza stumble upon the idyllic wedding of wealthy sheep rancher Comacho to the beautiful Quiteria—but her childhood sweetheart Basilio is ready to disrupt the celebration even if it’s the last thing he ever does! Woven throughout the entertainment will be movements from Telemann’s delightful orchestral suite Burlesque de Don Quichotte, a work that uses strikingly evocative music to depict various episodes from the classic novel by Cervantes.

BEMF’s GRAMMY-winning Musical Directors Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs join with internationally acclaimed Stage Director Gilbert Blin to create this all new production. German bass-baritone Christian Immler—a frequent guest of BEMF’s recordings and fully-staged opera productions—makes his BEMF Chamber Opera Series début in the title role. A world-renowned artist, Immler has been praised as “a technically, musically, and stylistically consummate interpreter” (Klassik Heute). Joining him as Sancho Pansa is BEMF favorite, tenor Jason McStoots alongside the all-star singers and instrumentalists of the BEMF Vocal & Chamber Ensembles with Concertmaster Robert Mealy and the BEMF Dance Company and Choreographer Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière. Rounding out the directorial team for this must-see operatic event are Costume Designer Gwen van den Eijnde, Lighting Designer Kelly Martin, Assistant Stage Director Anna Mansbridge, and Executive Producer Kathleen Fay.

ARTISTS: 

Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Opera Series
Paul O'Dette & Stephen Stubbs, Musical Directors
Gilbert Blin, Stage Director
Robert Mealy, Concertmaster
Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière, Choreographer
Gwen van den Eijnde, Costume Designer
Kelly Martin, Lighting Designer
Anna Mansbridge, Assistant Stage Director
Kathleen Fay, Executive Producer

Boston Early Music Festival Vocal Ensemble
Christian Immler, Don Quichotte
Jason McStoots, Sancho Pansa
Emily Siar, Quiteria
Michael Galvin, Comacho
Cody Bowers, Basilio
Richard Pittsinger, Grisóstomo
Jason Augustus Rober, Pedrillo
Mara Riley, Ashley Mulcahy & Daniel Fridley, chorus

Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Ensemble
Robert Mealy & Cynthia Roberts, violin; Sarah Darling, viola; Phoebe Carrai, violoncello; Doug Balliett, double bass; Emi Ferguson, piccolo; Dominic Teresi, bassoon; John Thiessen & Brandon Bergeron, trumpet; Michelle Humphreys, percussion; Maxine Eilander, Baroque harp; Michael Sponseller, harpsichord; Paul O’Dette, theorbo; Stephen Stubbs, theorbo & Baroque guitar

Boston Early Music Festival Dance Company
Julian Donahue, Junichi Fukuda, Caitlin Klinger & Sonam Tshedzom Tingkhye

LOCATION:

Saturday, November 30, 2024 at 8pm ET
Sunday, December 1, 2024 at 3pm ET
New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, 30 Gainsborough Street, Boston, MA

Tuesday, December 3, 2024 at 7:30pm ET (Concert Version)
Presented by the Morgan Library & Museum, themorgan.org/bemf/

Saturday, December 7, 2024 at 7:30pm ET
Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Troy, NY, troymusichall.org

Virtual Premiere: Sunday, December 15, 2024 at 8pm ET
Available to watch until Sunday, December 29, 2024 at 11:59pm ET

PROGRAM: Telemann's Don Quichotte auf der Hochzeit des Camacho
Telemann's Suite in G major, “Burlesque de Don Quichotte,” TWV 55:G10
Telemann's Suite in D major, TWV 55:D18
TICKETS:  Tickets for the Boston performances are priced at $130, $95, $65, $50, and $30 for the in-person performance, and $25 for the virtual event. All Boston tickets include a complimentary ticket for the virtual performance. To purchase tickets, visit BEMF.org or call the BEMF Box Office at 617-661-1812. Discounts are available for students and seniors.

ASSOCIATED EVENTS
Join us one hour before each performance in Boston for an engaging talk featuring the Directorial Team.

ABOUT THE BEMF CHAMBER OPERA SERIES
Hailed by the Boston Globe for "vivid performance," since 2008 the BEMF Chamber Opera Series has taken the internationally acclaimed musicianship, scholarship, and direction showcased in BEMF's fully staged Festival opera and focused it on small-scale works in intimate productions each Thanksgiving weekend. Since 2011, BEMF has taken several productions on tour across North America with performances in New York City, Miami, Kansas City, Vancouver, and Seattle among other destinations. BEMF's studio recording of Charpentier's La Descente d'Orphée aux Enfers and La Couronne de Fleurs was awarded the 2015 GRAMMY Award for Best Opera Recording.

ABOUT THE BOSTON EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL
Recognized as the preeminent early music presenter and Baroque opera producer in North America, the Boston Early Music Festival (BEMF) has been credited with securing Boston’s reputation as “America’s early music capital” (The Boston Globe). Founded in 1981, BEMF offers diverse programs and activities, including one GRAMMY Award–winning and five GRAMMY Award–nominated opera recordings, an annual concert series that brings early music’s brightest stars to the Boston and New York concert stages, and a biennial week-long Festival and Exhibition recognized as the “world’s leading festival of early music” (The Times, London). The 23rd Boston Early Music Festival will take place from June 8 to 15, 2025, and will feature a fully staged production of Reinhard Keiser’s Octavia. BEMF’s Artistic Leadership includes Artistic Directors Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs, Opera Director Gilbert Blin, and Orchestra Director Robert Mealy.

The Boston Early Music Festival is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, National Endowment for the Arts, Constellation Charitable Foundation, and WCRB Classical Radio Boston, as well as a number of generous foundations and individuals from around the world.

For more information, please contact Kathleen Fay at kathy@bemf.org.

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