You’ve never seen an opera like this before. Step inside a world of fantasy, hilarity, and boundless imagination as Shepherd School Opera Department presents John Corigliano’s mesmerizing The Ghosts of Versailles. As the curtain rises, we encounter the ghosts of King Louis XVI’s court, including Marie Antoinette who is still haunted by the memory of her execution. Her favorite playwright tries to lift her spirits with an opera featuring the beloved characters from Rossini’s The Barber of Seville and Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. As the “opera within an opera” unfolds, realities blend, worlds collide, and events take an unexpected turn. An evening of spectacle, suspense, laugh-out-loud humor, and astonishing emotional poignancy awaits in this grand celebration of the power of opera.
Sung in English with English surtitles
Tickets required
Inside Opera: Pre-show Chats
Join us in Tudor Patrons’ Lounge on the parterre level one hour before curtain time of The Ghosts of Versailles for an insightful look into the operas being performed. Available to all opera ticketholders on a first-come, first-served basis.
*Shepherd School alumnus
Repertoire
John Corigliano: The Ghosts of Versailles
Artists
American conductor Benjamin Manis marked a successful end of his tenure as Associate Conductor of the Utah Symphony in the summer of 2023. During his time in Salt Lake, he led performances on tour throughout the state of Utah, as well as at Abravanel Hall and the Deer Valley Music Festival. From 2019-2022, Mr. Manis was Resident Conductor of the Houston Grand Opera, making his debut with Verdi’s Rigoletto; other highlights of his time in Houston include performances of Carmen, Romeo et Juliette and The Snowy Day. He led 3 world premieres at HGO, among them the 2020 world premiere of Marian’s Song with the subsequent HGO Digital filmed version and Miller Outdoor Theatre performances of the same work. Mr. Manis returned to HGO in the 22/23 season to conduct productions of Tosca and El Milagro del Recuerdo to critical acclaim.
Patricia Racette made her directorial debut with a new production of La Traviata at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis in the summer of 2018 and has since directed productions there of Susannah and Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine in which she sang the lead role. Planned productions of La Voix Humaine at the Dallas Opera and Susannah at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in 2020 were unfortunately cancelled due to the pandemic. In the 23/24 season she directs Roméo et Juliette at the Arizona Opera.
Ms. Racette is currently the Artistic Director of Opera Theatre of St Louis’ Gerdine Young Artist and Richard Gaddes Festival Artist programs. She also continues to be sought after for master classes and workshops to foster artistry in the next generation of classical singer. In January 2017, she presented the pilot program of her intensive seminar, Integrative Artistry, at the San Francisco Conservatory, and has since presented it at The Juilliard School and the Washington National Opera.