In Samuel Barber and Gian Carlo Menotti’s Pulitzer Prize-winning opera, Vanessa waits, along with her niece Erika and her mother the Baroness, in her shadowy estate for the arrival of her long-lost lover. When their visitor arrives, he launches the family into psychological turmoil, sends Erika spiraling, and unleashes a reckoning of desire, illusion, and longing.
Under the acclaimed direction of R.B. Schlather, VANESSA is “pared to its stark, chilling core” with Heartbeat Opera’s signature “laser-like approach” (Classical Voice North America). Dan Schlosberg’s “revelatory” (Seen and Heard International) and “meticulously distilled” (The Washington Post) new arrangement rekindles one of opera's greatest scores with a band of seven virtuosic instrumentalists, and Jacob Ashworth’s adaptation strips the story to five dynamic singers and “100 enthralling minutes” (The New York Times).
