Classic Arts News
Heartbeat Opera to Present Revised Vanessa at Baruch Performing Arts Center
The 100-minute adaptation of Samuel Barber's opera premiered at the 2025 Williamstown Theatre Festival.
March 03, 2026 By Natan Zamansky
Heartbeat Opera's new adaptation of Samuel Barber's Vanessa will transfer to New York this spring, following an acclaimed run at the Williamstown Theatre Festival last year. The 100-minute adaptation will run at the Baruch Performing Arts Center for 10 performances, May 12-31.
The opera tells the story of Vanessa, who has lived in silent seclusion for 20 years while waiting for her lover Anatol to return. When Anatol's son, also named Anatol, appears in his place, intergenerational tensions spark between Vanessa, her mother the Baroness, and her niece Erika. Featuring a libretto by the composer's partner Gian Carlo Menotti, the work had its premiere in 1958 at the Metropolitan Opera, and won the Pulitzer Prize for music that same year.
Soprano Inna Dukach will lead the cast as Vanessa, reprising the role from the Williamstown run. She will be joined by mezzo-soprano Kelsey Lauritano as Erika, tenor Frederick Ballentine as Anatol, baritone Joshua Jeremiah as the Doctor, and mezzo-soprano Mary Phillips as the Baroness. The new adaptation by Jacob Ashworth pares the action down to just those five characters. Ashworth will also conduct the seven-piece orchestra, playing new musical arrangements by Dan Schlosberg.
R.B. Schlather directs the production, which features set design by Jiaying Erica Zhang, costume design by Terese Wadden, and lighting design by Yuki Nakase Link. Peregrine Heard serves as dramaturg, and Brenna Comeau is the production stage manager.
Since its founding in 2014 by Ethan Heard and Louisa Proske, Heartbeat Opera has created new adaptations and arrangements of classic operas, often in English translation, intended to speak to the present day. Earlier this year, the company presented a musical theatre-infused adaptation of Massanet's Manon.
For more information, visit HeartbeatOpera.org.
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