Bravo! Vail to stage debut opera production in 2019 with Puccini’s Tosca

The Philadelphia Orchestra had not finished its residency before Bravo! Vail Music Festival Artistic Director Anne-Marie McDermott took to the stage to announce that the exemplary orchestra would be back in 2019 for the summer classical music destination’s debut opera production—Puccini’s Tosca—on July 11 and 13, 2019. The unprecedented production for Bravo! Vail will reunite The Philadelphia Orchestra, under the direction of Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, with Director James Alexander and production company Symphony V, whose imaginative design will transport audiences to 1800s Rome. Casting announcements will be made at a later date.

More information about is available on Bravo! Vail's website.

“I never imagined when I became Artistic Director in 2010 that Bravo! Vail would be mounting this unique production of Tosca with the amazing Yannick Nézet-Séguin, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and director James Alexander. It is both humbling and inspiring that the Bravo! community has so generously embraced this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bring opera to the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater at the highest artistic level,” said McDermott.

The project marks a transformation and deepening of the relationship between Bravo! Vail and The Philadelphia Orchestra. Nézet-Séguin is the powerful voice behind this bold new idea. As Music Director of both The Philadelphia Orchestra and The Metropolitan Opera, he is singularly qualified to guide this project.

The dramatic staging will combine historically accurate scenic elements, costumes, furniture, and props with 21^st Century projections of custom-made images shown on two giant LED screens flanking the stage. The conductor’s podium will be raised and thrust outward from the stage toward the audience, freeing the space downstage of the orchestra to be used for the action of the fully costumed cast and two choruses and offer the audience a truly immersive experience.

“Tosca was a truly special highlight of our past season in Philadelphia, and it brings me great joy to take this grand opera on the road for our 2019 Bravo! Vail residency,” said Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Music Director of The Philadelphia Orchestra. “I look forward to delighting our Vail audiences with one of the greatest Italian operas ever composed, paired with an all-star cast and the unparalleled sound of The Philadelphia Orchestra. I know it will be a memorable experience for everyone involved.”

James Alexander first brought a team from Symphony V to the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in March 2018 to initiate a plan for an immersive, dynamic staging of Tosca.

“I cannot tell you how honored and thrilled I was to receive the invitation from Anne-Marie McDermott, Artistic Director of the Bravo! Vail Music Festival, to even consider mounting an opera production in this unique venue. To visit the space when two feet of snow surrounded us, to walk the space and be invited to dream how I’d like you, our audience, to see Puccini’s masterpiece in this environment on a summer’s evening was a delicious and extraordinary prospect,” said Alexander. “I fell in love with the setting and the space—a blank canvas upon which to paint the narrative of Tosca.”

Choruses will be led by conductor Duain Wolfe, founder and conductor of Colorado Symphony Chorus; Choral Director of Chicago Symphony; and past-president of Chorus America.