Vanessa | E Pluribus Unum: From Many, One

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Jennifer Holloway, soprano (Vanessa)
Samantha Hankey, mezzo-soprano (Erika)
Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo-soprano (The Old Baroness) 
Pavel Černoch, tenor (Anatol)
Thomas Hampson, baritone (The Old Doctor)
Wei Wu, bass (Major Domo/Footman)
Tanglewood Festival Chorus
 James Burton, conductor
Boston Lyric Opera Chorus
 Brett Hodgdon, conductor

BARBER Vanessa

Presented in collaboration with the Boston Lyric Opera
Sung in English with supertitles

Andris Nelsons leads some of the most acclaimed stars of opera today in performances of Samuel Barber’s Vanessa, a work considered by many the greatest American opera. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1958, Vanessa premiered at the Metropolitan Opera that year. Barber wrote the opera on a libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti; they aimed for a cosmopolitan, nostalgic work on lost love and the consequences of self-delusion. Barber’s romantic lyricism is ever-present in this powerfully affecting work, a centerpiece of this season’s E Pluribus Unum: From Many, One focus.