Saratoga Springs, NY -- On June 24th on the stage of Universal Preservation Hall, local singers will collaborate with Opera Saratoga Music Staff in an evening of music-making during Opera Saratoga's 64th annual summer season!

"After holding the first local auditions in at least 15 years, we found that the talent in the Capital district was undeniable" says Opera Saratoga general and artistic director Mary Birnbaum."This summer's festival was already planned but we wanted to figure out a way to honor and showcase our local singers. So we came up with the Saratoga Sing-in, a night full of arias sung by 16 Capital region singers accompanied by Opera Saratoga's pianists, culminating in a pop-up chorus led by Opera Saratoga's head of music staff, Laurie Rogers. The pop-up chorus will feature all the singers, along with the audience, who will be given sheet music and pronunciation guides for a chorus from La Vie parisienne in advance, so that everyone can join in together.

Opera Saratoga's 64th annual summer season includes over 20 performances of opera and musical theater, culminating in mainstages La Vie parisienne and She Loves Me at UPH from June 20-29. For more info and tickets visit www.operasaratoga.org.

ABOUT MARY BIRNBAUM:

Mary Birnbaum is a New York based director of opera and music theater. In 2024, she directed critically acclaimed productions of Rigoletto (Lyric Opera of Chicago), Guys and Dolls (Opera Saratoga), and ÉMIGRÉ (World Premiere, New York Philharmonic). Other credits include new productions of La bohème (Santa Fe Opera), Dido and Aeneas (Juilliard, Opera Holland Park, Opéra de Versailles), L’Orfeo (Juilliard, NYTimes “Best of Classical Music 2021”), Otello (National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan), L’elisir d’amore (National Theater of Costa Rica) and many more. In demand for her skills as a collaborator on new work, Birnbaum has directed world premieres by contemporary artists including Jeremy Denk and Steven Stucky (The Classical Style at Ojai and Carnegie Hall), Frank London and Elise Thoron (Hatuey at Montclair Peak Performances), Mark Campbell and Kristin Kuster (Kept at Virginia Arts Festival). She directed the premiere of Chris Cerrone and Stephanie Fleischmann’s In a Grove at Pittsburgh Opera in 2022, which will play at the Prototype Festival in Jan 2025. On the faculty of The Juilliard School since 2011, Birnbaum serves as the Dramatic Advisor to the MMGD program. She coaches at the Lindemann Young Artists Program at The Metropolitan Opera. In 2023, she became the General and Artistic director of Opera Saratoga in Saratoga Springs, New York. A graduate of Harvard College, Mary Birnbaum trained professionally in physical theater at?L’École Jacques Lecoq?in Paris.

 When:

Tuesday, June 24th, 7pm

Where:

Universal Preservation Hall

25 Washington Street

Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

For tickets, visit https://www.operasaratoga.org/singin

For more about Opera Saratoga’s 2025 season, visit www.operasaratoga.org.