Weber's Euryanthe in the USA

Weber's Euryanthe is receiving its first American production in 100 years when it is staged by Bard SummerScape festival in New York's Annandale-on Hudson. Leon Botstein conducts, with a cast which includes Ellie Dehn, William Burden, Wendy Bryn Harmer (who will be singing Eva in Die Meistersinger with ENO next season) and Ryan Juster, Kevin Newbury directs. The festival's theme explores Schubert and His World so that Schubert's Fierrabras also gets an outing, along with his singspiel Die Verschworenen and Franz von Suppe's operetta Franz Schubert.

Weber's opera was written in 1823, to a very poor libretto by Helmina von Chezy, who also wrote the failed play Rosamunde for which Schubert wrote the incidental music. Notwithstanding the piece's poor dramaturgy, Weber's music was an important pre-cursor to later Romantic dramas and the work was a great influence on Wagner.

The festival runs from 25 July to 17 August, further information from the Festival website.