Bard Summerscape Press Release
Smetana's Dalibor
(July 2025, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY) — Starting on Friday, July 25 at the 2025 Bard SummerScape festival, the Fisher Center at Bard presents the first fully staged American production of Bedřich Smetana’s Dalibor, “a work of great sweep and passion, interlaced with enchanting national melodies” (The New York Times) that is widely considered by fellow Czechs to be the composer’s most important opera. In a change of cast necessitated by visa challenges, John Matthew Myers and Cadie J. Bryan star alongside the American Symphony Orchestra (ASO), Bard Festival Chorale, and festival founder and co-artistic director Leon Botstein in an original treatment by Jean-Romain Vesperini, the director behind SummerScape’s celebrated staging of Saint-Saëns’s Henri VIII. This was named one of the “Best Classical Music Performances of 2023” by The New York Times, which observed: “Botstein, and his annual opera production at Bard, seem more invaluable by the year.”
Starring in the title role is tenor John Matthew Myers, whose past credits include the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, and Carnegie Hall, where he recently headlined the American Symphony Orchestra’s concert performance of Richard Strauss’s first opera, Guntram, prompting The New York Times to marvel:
“The title role is a tour de force requiring the kind of unflagging power Strauss would later demand of his ‘Salome.’ John Matthew Myers delivered a bravura performance of astonishing resourcefulness and tonal beauty in the role. … Long monologues … are some of the most musically convincing passages, especially in Myers’s rendition, which brought a wealth of tone colors and emotional nuance to his narrations.”
He sings opposite the Milada of soprano Cadie J. Bryan, whose “stage presence and musical excellence” are “a delight, her shining, confident soprano easily seizing the moment and ravishing the ear” (Opera Today). Bryan and Myers head a strong cast. American soprano Erica Petrocelli, recently recognized with LA Opera’s Stern Artist Award, sings orphan girl Jitka; American tenor Terrence Chin-Loy, a Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions semi-finalist, is Jitka’s husband, the mercenary Vítek; Grammy-winning American baritone Eric Greene is Budivoj, commander of the castle guard; and Grammy-winning Chinese bass Wei Wu, previously seen in SummerScape’s King Arthur and Le prophète, is the jailor Beneš. Rounding out the cast as Dalibor’s King Vladislav is bass-baritone Alfred Walker, who drew rave reviews as Méphistophélès in last season’s semi-staged production of La damnation de Faust, when the Financial Times observed: “Walker is a staple at the festival, and it is easy to see why.” To master the subtleties of Dalibor’s Czech text, the cast – all making role debuts – worked in close collaboration with dramaturg and diction coach Véronique Firkusny, the daughter of pianist Rudolf Firkusny, one of Martinů’s dearest friends.
Dalibor runs for five performances in the Frank Gehry-designed Fisher Center on Bard’s idyllic Hudson Valley campus (July 25, 27, 30; August 1, 3). There will be an intermission toast on the opening night (July 25), and Maestro Botstein will lead a free “Dalibor in Depth” preshow opera talk at 12 noon before the first Sunday matinee (July 27). Chartered coach transportation from New York City will be available for two matinees (July 27 and August 3), and the third performance will stream live online (July 30) with an encore broadcast three days later (August 2).
To complete Bard’s operatic lineup this summer, Botstein, the ASO, and the Bard Festival Chorale also anchor Julietta by Bohuslav Martinů (August 17). Starring Erica Petrocelli and Aaron Blake, their semi-staged performance forms the final program of the 2025 Bard Music Festival, which undertakes an in-depth examination of “Martinů and His World.” Once again, chartered coach transportation from New York City will be available for the performance, which will stream live online.
July 24, 2025