Published26 Jun 2025
Opera Philadelphia’s 50th Anniversary Season Opens in September with the Company Premiere of Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims at the Academy of Music
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MoreThe opening production of Opera Philadelphia’s 50th Anniversary Season, the first curated by General Director and President Anthony Roth Costanzo, marks the company premiere of Rossini’s final Italian theatrical work, Il viaggio a Reims. Four performances come to the Academy of Music on September 19, 21, 26 and 28.
Exactly 200 years ago, Rossini dared to celebrate the coronation of Charles X with this ebullient satire of class, manners, and the timeless misery of long-distance travel. It was never originally meant to survive beyond its four original performances at the Théâtre-Italien in Paris, and Rossini later reused most of its music for the better-known Le Comte Ory (1829). The original score was reassembled in the 20th century, receiving its first modern performance in 1984.
A group of aristocrats traveling from all over Europe to the coronation of Charles X of France are stranded in a luxury hotel near Reims due to a lack of horses. The situation soon descends into a morass of love affairs, chicanery, secret plans, and jealous passions. Olivier Award-winning director Damiano Michieletto’s inventive production shifts the time and place to a present-day art museum on the cusp of a major exhibition opening, in what OperaWire called “a clever, funny, and dynamic production.” Madama Cortese, the “Tyrolean hostess” in the original setting, becomes the museum’s curator; the scholar Don Profondo is an art auctioneer; and the Englishman Lord Sidney is an art restorer. The remaining characters are transformed into the subjects of paintings who progressively emerge from their frames or packing cases throughout the show.
“This opera is an explosion of sparkling bravura energy, and with the brilliant Corrado Rovaris at the helm of our incredible orchestra, chorus, and cast of 17 stars, it promises to be joyful,” Costanzo said. “What’s more, it is such an honor to present the American debut of the wildly creative and revered Damiano Michieletto, who has conquered all of Europe with his ingenuity. The hilarity and intricacy he has created with this grand staging promises to make the opening of our 50th Anniversary Season feel like a celebration.”
“Il viaggio a Reims is one of the most inspired titles of Rossini's operas,” Rovaris said. “Through a writing characterized by a brilliant rhythmic momentum, this score uses the most diverse musical possibilities to describe the various situations in the libretto. Rossini takes advantage of the possibilities of such a large cast by presenting a series of musical gems that follow one after the other and ask the protagonists to showcase all their technical and interpretative skills to celebrate at the highest level the joy of his music.”
Praised by The Wall Street Journal for her “delicate” and “ideal” title role portrayal in La Calisto at the Glimmerglass Festival, Filipino American soprano Emilie Kealani makes her company debut as Corinna. Hailed by the Boston Globe as “balmy voiced” and for her “uniformly excellent” performances, mezzo-soprano Katherine Beck makes her company debut as Marchese Melibea. Having thrilled Opera Philadelphia audiences in the role of Ashley Devon in the U.S. premiere of Missy Mazzoli’s The Listeners, soprano Lindsey Reynolds returns as Contessa di Folleville. Also returning to the Academy of Music stage as Madama Cortese is soprano Brenda Rae, who wowed Philadelphia audiences in 2018 in the title role of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. Baritone Daniel Belcher, who created the role of Inspector Kildare in Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell's Elizabeth Cree (2017), returns as Il Barone di Trombonok; tenor Alasdair Kent, who performed in 2023’s Carmina Burana, returns as Il Conte di Libenskof; and bass Scott Conner, who appeared as The King in Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges (2019), returns as Lord Sidney.
Also making their company debuts are bass-baritone Ben Brady (Don Profondo), tenor Minghao Liu (Cavalier Belfiore), baritone Alex DeSocio (Don Alvaro), bass Anthony Reed (Don Prudenzio), tenor Fran Daniel Laucerica (Don Luigino), baritone Brandon Bell (Antonion), mezzo-soprano Sarah Scofield (Maddalena), tenor Hongrui Ren (Zefirino/Gelsomino), soprano Maya Mor Mitrani (Modestina), and soprano Olivia Prendergast (Delia).
Eleonora Gravagnola makes her Opera Philadelphia debut remounting the Michieletto production. Jack Mulroney Music Director Corrado Rovaris leads the Opera Philadelphia Orchestra, with Chorus Master Elizabeth Braden leading the voices of the Opera Philadelphia Chorus.
Il viaggio a Reims
Philadelphia Premiere
Music by Gioachino Rossini
Libretto by Luigi Balocchi
September 19, 21, 26, and 28, 2025
Academy of Music
Performed in Italian with English supertitles
Approximately 3 hours and 15 minutes including one intermission
Production from Dutch National Opera, Amsterdam, Royal Danish Opera, Copenhagen, and Opera Australia
About Opera Philadelphia
Opera Philadelphia is “the very model of a modern opera company” (Washington Post). Committed to developing opera for the 21st century, the company is recognized as “a hotbed of operatic innovation” (New York Times). For more information, visit operaphila.org.