Thursday, August 2
Independent arrivals in Albany, New York. Upon arrival, you will be met and transferred by sedan to the stately Otesaga Resort Hotel, on the shores of Lake Otsego in Cooperstown, New York. Once settled in your Deluxe room, we meet in the evening for cocktails and introductions in the lobby bar before a Welcome Dinner in the hotel’s Dining Room (jackets required for the gentlemen).
Friday, August 3
Breakfast included each day. Following a morning at leisure, we include a tour at the nearby Fenimore Art Museum. Nestled on the western shore of Otsego Lake, housed in an elegant 1930s neo-Georgian mansion, the Fenimore Art Museum presents a perspective on the heritage and history of America through art. The beauty of the museum setting is matched by the quality of the collections it houses, including some of the nation’s finest examples of American landscape, history and genre paintings, American folk art, photography and American Indian art. William Sidney Mount, Thomas Cole, Gilbert Stuart, Benjamin West, E.L. Henry, Eastman Johnson, Thomas Waterman, John Wesley Jarvis, Grandma Moses and Ralph Fasanella are all represented in the museum’s holdings. The Fenimore Art Museum seeks to honor the extraordinary ability of ordinary people to shape American culture. Following dinner at the hotel (included), we transfer to the Alice Busch Opera Theater for our first Glimmerglass Festival performance, Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson’s Lost in the Stars (7:30 pm start). Glimmerglass joins forces with Cape Town Opera to present the story of a South African priest's spiritual crisis, based on Cry, the Beloved Country, the classic novel by Alan Paton. Starring 2012 Glimmerglass Artist in Residence Eric Owens. John DeMain conducts a Tazewell Thompson production.
Saturday, August 4
Enjoy the morning at leisure at the resort. In the early afternoon we transfer once again to the Alice Busch Opera Theater for the matinée performance of Meredith Willson’s The Music Man (1:30 pm start). Cooperstown native Dwayne Croft makes his triumphant return (alongside Elizabeth Futral) in this Tony Award-winning story of an itinerant con man who falls for the local librarian. A classic American musical, performed with full orchestra and no amplification. After a break for dinner (included), we return to the opera house for the evening performance: Verdi's epic masterpiece Aida. (8pm start). Nader Abbassi conducts the Francesca Zambello production, which stars Michelle Johnson in the title role, Eric Owens as Amonasro and Daveda Karanas as Amneris.
Sunday, August 5
Today we include a visit to the Baseball Hall of Fame. When it opened on June 12, 1939, the Hall of Fame officially became the home of baseball by serving as its cornerstone and housing the stories honoring the greats of baseball's past. With over 38,000 three-dimensional artifacts in the Hall of Fame's collection, each visitor can get a glimpse of what makes baseball special to them. Following lunch, we return to the Alice Busch Opera Theater for our final performance at Glimmerglass: a matinée presentation of Jean-Baptiste Lully’s Armide. (1:30 pm start). The warrior princess Armide is torn between love and vengeance for the knight Renaud in this French baroque opera. A co-production with Toronto's Opera Atelier, renowned for lavish productions with period ballet. Conductor David Fallis leads the orchestra in this Marshall Pynkoski production (Armide: Peggy Kriha Dye; Renaud: Colin Ainsworth). Following the performance, we return to the resort for a Farewell Dinner in the main dining room.
Please note: as the hotel only reserves rooms based on a “modified American plan”, whereby dinners must be included, we will dine at the resort each evening. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as the restaurant is excellent and obviously very convenient. That said, we will go out of our way to ensure that each meal is unique and memorable.
Monday, August 6
Late-morning transfers to Albany for departure flights are included.