Glimmerglass Gala

On April 8th, 2018, the Glimmerglass Festival hosted its annual gala at the Metropolitan Club on East 60th Street to honor Leonard Bernstein’s and Jerome Robbin’s centenaries, the Festival’s 2018 production of West Side Story, and the 30th anniversary of the Glimmerglass Young Artists Program.

Members of the Glimmerglass Young Artists Program performing the mambo scene from this season’s musical West Side Story.

The Glimmerglass Festival is an seasonal event that blends high class opera with laid back summer style. Each summer, the company produces more than forty operas, ranging from new to well known, in the quaint community of Cooperstown, New York. But the festival is not just a celebration of opera -- despite being the second largest producer of opera in New York State (after the Metropolitan Opera), the festival also hosts concerts by celebrity guests, literary lectures and events, and, most importantly, serves as a training ground for young artists hoping to enter the world of theatre production.

Guests mingling in the Great Hall at the Metropolitan Club, New York

Many of these young artists were in attendance at the Gala, which started off with a cocktail hour at six o'clock sharp. Guests, patrons and artists mingled for the entirety of the hour before the performance began at seven -- and what a performance it was, featuring the work of some of Glimmerglass own artists, a serencade from famed opera singer Eric Owens, and the dancers from West Side Story.

Robert Nelson, Margarita Sears, Van Ramsey, Moira North

Following the performance was a delicious dinner and then dessert, which was accompanied with a set from the Peter Duchin Orchestra. Guests swayed and danced to the music, ending the night on a particularly classy note.

Kelley Rourke, Kevin Puts

So if you’re looking for a cultured way to spend the summer, be sure check out the Glimmerglass Festival

Courtesy of Ruby Tull for the photos!