Saint-Saëns’s “Henri VIII” at Bard SummerScape

Bass-baritone Alfred Walker (photo: Walter Hill)

Since its inception, the annual Bard SummerScape festival has presented a series of stellar revivals of important but neglected operas. As a highlight of its landmark 20th anniversary season, Bard SummerScape presents the first major new American production of Camille Saint-Saëns’s unjustly neglected grand opera Henri VIII. Drawing additional elements from Shakespeare and John Fletcher’s Henry VIII, this rarely performed opera dramatizes Henry’s fateful split from the Roman Catholic church, which allowed him to divorce Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn, in hopes of producing a male heir and ensuring the Tudor succession. Despite having its world premiere in 1883, Henri VIII didn’t received its U.S. premiere until 1974, and this season’s SummerScape staging marks its first major American production to date.

Bard’s original staging is by visionary French director Jean-Romain Vesperini. Boasting a strong cast headed by bass-baritone Alfred Walker, who combines “vocal heft and theatrical intensity” (Wall Street Journal), Vesperini’s captivating new production runs for five performances on July 21, 23, 26, 28, and 30, the third of which will stream live online (July 26), with an encore streaming presentation on July 29. All five performances will be anchored by the American Symphony Orchestra and Bard Festival Chorale under the leadership of festival founder and co-artistic director Leon Botstein. For press tickets and transportation, please email Emily Walsh at ewalsh@21cmediagroup.com

Performance details:

Henri VIII 
Composer: Camille Saint-Saëns
Librettists: Léonce Détroyat and Paul-Armand Silvestre
Directed by Jean-Romain Vesperini
Conducted by Leon Botstein

Dates & times:
Fri July 21 at 6:30pm
Sun July 23**, Wed July 26 (also livestreamed) & Sun July 30** at 2pm 
Friday, July 28 at 4pm
(+ encore stream on Sat July 29*)

Cast:
Henri VIII: Alfred Walker, bass-baritone
Catherine d’Aragon: Amanda Woodbury, soprano
Anne Boleyn: Lindsay Ammann, mezzo-soprano
Don Gómez de Feria: Josh Lovell, tenor
Cardinal Campeggio: Christian Zaremba, bass
Duke of Norfolk: Harold Wilson, bass
Le comte de Surrey: Rodell Rosel, tenor
Cranmer/Archbishop of Canterbury: Kevin Thompson, bass
Lady Clarence: Alaysha Fox, soprano
Garter King of Arms: Aaron Blake tenor
Sung in French with English supertitles

American Symphony Orchestra; Bard Festival Chorale

Venue:
Fisher Center (Sosnoff Theater), Annandale-on-Hudson (accessible by regular Amtrak trains)
* The July 26 performance will stream live online, with an encore streaming presentation on July 39

Tickets:
Live performances: $29.50 – $129.50; livestreams: $20
Tickets & more info available at fishercenter.bard.edu/henri-viii/ or from box office: (845) 758-7900

** Transportation:
Chartered coach transportation from New York City is available for the July 23 and 30 performances. To book round-trip transportation from Lincoln Center, reserve online here.