2022 Season-at-a-Glance
The Era of Marie Antoinette, REDISCOVERED
We are thrilled to be returning to live performance at the Terrace Theater at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC and to be producing our first Baroque Music Festival in New York, NY. We invite you to step back into the theater with us to experience tales of love, loss, and splendor all inspired by the era of Marie Antoinette.
Experience the three unique Season Performances through a season subscription or individual tickets. And, when you’re not in the theater, enjoy our Lectures & Learning programming that pairs delightfully with the season’s themes.
Season Performances
TICKETS ON SALE NOW!
The French pre-revolutionary period of the 1770’s and 80’s had resonance in the Americas. Musician and scholar Pedro Memelsdorff turns a critical eye on the meaning of French music in the colonization of the Caribbean; Artistic Director Ryan Brown and filmmaker Tania Hernandez Velasco find historical precedents for their staging of Grétry’s Silvain in the 19th century American Southwest; and harpist Sandrine Chatron recreates a facet of Marie Antoinette’s own life as musician and patron of musicians, including two composers whose lives were intertwined with the French colonies. At the center of each of these programs are three women, the first historical – Minette, the mixed-race soprano and star of the opera in Port-au-Prince, the second fictional - Hélène, the wife, mother and daughter-in-law in Silvain - and Marie Antoinette. View our Season Brochure in digital form.
New York Festival
June 7 - June 9, 2022
Join us for Opera Lafayette’s inaugural New York Festival, celebrating The Era of Marie Antoinette, Rediscovered. Explore the three-day event featuring baroque music performed by international musicians, a roundtable discussion, private gala dinner, and reception.
Concert Spirituel aux Caraïbes
With music composed by Gossec, Dalayrac, Pergolesi, and more.
Sunday, June 12, 2022, 7:30 PM
Terrace Theater
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
Thursday, June 9, 2022, 7:00 PM
El Museo del Barrio
New York, NY
Gretry’s Silvain
A fully-staged production of this 1770 work, set in the New World.
Thursday, June 2, 2022, 7:30 PM
Terrace Theater
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Washington, DC
Friday, June 3, 2022, 7:30 PM
Terrace Theater
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Washington, DC
Tuesday, June 7, 2022, 7:00 PM
El Museo del Barrio
New York, NY
The Musical Salon of Marie Antoinette
Featuring works by Gluck, Chevalier de Saint Georges, Hinner and others
Wednesday, June 8, 2022, 7:00 PM
El Museo del Barrio
New York, NY
New York City Le Salon de Musique de Marie Antoinette Concert & gALA DINNER
Please join us to celebrate Opera Lafayette's inaugural New York Festival. The evening will commence at El Museo del Barrio with Opera Lafayette’s presentation of Le Salon de Musique de Marie Antoinette (The Musical Salon of Marie Antoinette). A gala dinner will immediately follow the concert at a private club to which transportation will be provided. The gala will honor Emily K. Rafferty, President Emerita of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and feature a post-dinner performance by internationally-renowned bass Nathan Berg.
Wednesday, June 8, 2022, 7:00 PM
El Museo del Barrio
New York, NY
New Mexico Residency
Opera Lafayette will be in residence at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico this May. Performances will be open to the public.
May 25 - 26, 2022
Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico
Taos, NM
Lectures & Learning
SILVAIN SALON: LIVE FROM TAOS
MAY 2022
VIRTUAL
Before our June productions of Andre Gretry's Silvain in DC and NYC, we invite you to take a look behind the curtain. Join a panel of hosts each Wednesday in May for online sessions livestreamed from our New Mexico residency at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation. We'll dive deeper into our retelling of this 1770 work, which we are setting in the 19th century American southwest. Join guest scholars and Opera Lafayette artists as they discuss the issues explored in our production, including challenges to common lands, the European colonization of the American Southwest, as well as directorial and costume inspiration expressed through film and fashion. Artistic Director Ryan Brown hosts guests including scholars Judith Miller and Sylvia Rodriguez, scholar/activist Maria Mondragon-Valdez and director/filmmaker Tania Hernández Velasco, members of the Taos Pueblo Gilbert Suazo Sr. and costume designer Patricia Michaels.
The Marie Antoinette Salon Series
April 2022
Virtual
Join Opera Lafayette and host Julia Doe, for this three-part online Salon Series about Marie Antoinette, an incredible woman in history who shaped much of French musical tastes in the 18th century and has inspired our 2022 musical season. Each session will feature a unique look into her life, lead by a new guest scholar each week.
The Infamous Rosalie - An Opera Lafayette Book Club
March 2022
Virtual
Join us for conversations about The Infamous Rosalie, a novel set in colonial Saint-Domingue written by Évelyn Trouillot, one of Haiti’s great contemporary writers. In our meetings, we’ll explore the themes of slavery, resistance, and motherhood taken up in the novel, talk about the historical events and contexts depicted in it, and think through the style and structure of the work as an example of Caribbean literature. Together, we’ll gain a better sense of the worlds that shaped the music that will be performed in Opera Lafayette’s presentation of Concert Spirituel aux Caraïbes coming to DC and NY June 2022 (Get tickets).