REGARDING THE CORONAVIRUS: Our 2020 festival season remains on schedule! The health and safety of our community is a top priority. We are closely monitoring local, state, and health authority recommendations, and are in close communication with our performance venues regarding their plans and procedures related to coronavirus/COVID-19. For more information, please click here.
Welcome to Berkshire Opera Festival's Fifth Anniversary Season!
Fifth Anniversary
Gala Concert and Celebration
Thursday, August 13, 7:30pm
Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center | Great Barrington, MA
With Special Host Stephanie Blythe
Read what the critics had to say about our 2019 Award-Winning
production of Don Pasquale
BOF was the 2019 recipient of the Berkshire Theatre Critics Association Award for Outstanding Production Running Fewer than 6 Performances!
“A spirited, musically excellent Don Pasquale opened Berkshire Opera Festival's fourth season [...] The strong, vivid effort drew a justified ovation from the crowd, confirming Berkshire Opera's "destination" status."
- David Shengold, Opera News
“In its fourth season, Berkshire Opera Festival has a hit on its hands. Director Jonathon Loy spares no opportunity for gags and conductor Brian Garman leads an exemplary cast and responsive orchestra and chorus."
- Andrew L. Pincus, The Berkshire Eagle
“Great voices, attractive singers, a fine orchestra, brilliant sets, lovely costumes, and a wonderful chorus. Once again [...] Loy and Garman have excelled themselves in this production; everything they undertake is perfection."
- Rex Hearn, Berkshire Record
“Normally, when one encounters a relatively new opera company, one makes gentle allowances for its shortcomings. Giving lie to this mostly true theory is the Berkshire Opera Festival. It is wisely conservative -- just one fully staged opera a year plus a handful of concerts -- all superbly planned and performed [...] This young company has the spirit and craft at its fingertips."
- Robert Levine, Bachtrack
“It was indeed a delight, a frothy mix of bel canto and slapstick that kept me smiling for over two hours. Interspersed with the laughter, however, were scenes so touching that they brought a lump to one's throat."
- Rick Perdian, Seen & Heard International
“Berkshire Opera Festival’s excellent Don Pasquale is everything a comic opera ought to be: funny, broadly played by agile actors; lively, with a libretto sung by great voices; and lyrical, with music played by a fine orchestra."
- Dan Dwyer, The Berkshire Edge
“The casting of this opera was superb. No one singer dominated and the blend of voices for the finale, when they all sang, was absolutely superb, brilliantly musical, and a fitting ending to a perfect night of musical, theatrical fun."
- J. Peter Bergman, Berkshire Bright Focus
“This Don Pasquale would be a triumphal experience wherever it played [...] We had robustness, volition, and the essence of Donizetti comic opera: joy, real joy."
- Harry Rolnick, ConcertoNet
“Loy and Garman, co-founders of the Berkshire Opera Festival, are in their fourth year, and they have brought something wonderful to our region, filling a gap we might not have known we had. Long may they prosper."
- Fred Baumgarten, Berkshire On Stage