Hudson, NY – Visionary opera director and Hudson resident R.B. Schlather reunites with early music band Ruckus for six performances of Handel’s baroque blockbuster GIULIO CESARE at Hudson Hall from April 19-May 2, 2025. Repeating the successful alchemy of his 2023 RODELINDA, Schlather brings together area residents, artisans, rising stars, and some of today’s finest baroque interpreters to share his passion for Handel in the intimacy of New York State’s oldest surviving theater. Hudson, famed for its creative community and picturesque landscape, is a unique little river town two hours north of NYC. With a colorful history as a whaling town, Hudson has enjoyed a major revival and is now home to a vibrant creative economy.
Schlather returns to Hudson Hall with his unique approach to opera performance and visible rehearsal process, bringing opera to the people and onto the street. In addition to the six performances, the public is invited to open rehearsals on Saturday April 5 and April 12 from 2-4pm; and all rehearsals will be live-streamed on a TV installed in Hudson Hall’s street-facing window, allowing even more audiences an entree into the power of opera. The result is a heightened visibility of the craft of opera production and performance.
The production is led by sought-after American countertenor Randall Scotting as Cesare and rising young star Song Hee Lee as Cleopatra. The cast also features Meridian Prall as Cornelia (Prall just won Third Prize at Operalia 2024 and is a 2024 Met Opera Finalist), Bard Music Conservatory alumni Chuanyuan Liu as Tolomeo, Rolfe Dauz as Curio, and Hudson area residents Matthew Deming as Nireno, Raha Mirzadegan as Sesto, and Douglas Ray Williams as Achilla.
Joining the company is Davon, the Hudson Valley-based improv dance artist, DJ, actress and producer. Davon will bring her unique and unforgettable improv-based dance practice to the production, collaborating with Schlather for the first time.
The young, conductorless period instrument ensemble Ruckus has wowed audiences and critics with its fresh, visceral approach to baroque music. Ruckus’s core is a continuo group, the baroque equivalent of a jazz rhythm section: guitars, keyboards, cello, bassoon, and bass, joined by violin, flute, and oboe. In his New York Times review of last year’s Rodelinda at Hudson Hall, Joshua Barone declared Ruckus “stars” and went on: “With a mercurial, almost improvisatory spirit that responded to the drama in real time, they played with the fieriness and emotional charge of verismo.”
The creative team includes longtime Schlather collaborators: Joseph Cermatori as dramaturg, costume design by Terese Wadden, lighting by Masha Tsimring, scenic associate Erica Zhang, hair and makeup by Matia Emsellem, supertitles by Steven Jude Tietjen, and assistant director Michael Hofmann.
Opera Built by the Community
Schlather, who lives just a few streets away from Hudson Hall, sources many of his collaborators from the local area and surrounding region, tapping a rich network of talent and partnerships from his own backyard.
Several of the region’s top contractors (Consigli Construction, Lagonia Construction, Aidan Orbinski, and more) are coming together to help build the set and donate supplies, as Hudson Hall board members and local residents help paint R.B.’s black glitter vision.
Kaatsbaan Cultural Park in nearby Tivoli, NY joins as a cultural partner, and is where the cast will be in residence. This sense of community extends to Schlather’s audiences—many of whom are introduced to opera through his work.
This second installment in Schlather’s ‘Handel on the Hudson’ series is eagerly anticipated. The New York Times’ chief music critic Zachary Woolfe called the initial announcement “the best news in a while for the New York opera scene.” The Times’ classical music critic Joshua Barone praised Rodelinda as “worthy of a multi-year commitment to Handel” and called Hudson Hall “surprisingly ideal for the intimacy of Handel.” Critic Seth Rogovoy noted that Schlather’s Rodelinda had “the kind of punk aesthetic and dynamic that made the nearly three-hour performance feel urgent, contemporary, and incredibly fun,” and The Berkshire Eagle‘s Evan Berkowitz wrote: “Rodelinda gave us the sort of opera we don’t often get in our region: not just fully staged, but fully realized.”
“R.B. Schlather’s love of Handel and ability to connect with a new generation of musicians, creatives, and audiences creates an experience that is undeniably fresh and vital,” says Hudson Hall Executive Director Tambra Dillon. “It’s the future of opera—and it’s spectacular.”
GIULIO CESARE
OPENING NIGHT: Saturday, April 19 at 6pm
Wednesday, April 23 at 3pm*
Saturday, April 26 at 7pm
Sunday, April 27 at 3pm*
Wednesday, April 30 at 3pm*
Friday, May 2 at 7pm
*Followed by a discussion with director R.B. Schlather and dramaturg Joseph Cermatori, with members of the cast
Hudson Hall at the historic Hudson Opera House
327 Warren Street
Hudson, NY 12534
Opera by G.F. Handel, premiered at the King’s Theatre in London, 1724
Sung in Italian with English supertitles
Tickets on sale now
Direction and Production by R.B. Schlather*
CAST
Randall Scotting, Cesare*
Song Hee Lee, Cleopatra
Chuanyuan Liu, Tolomeo*
Meridian Prall, Cornelia
Raha Mirzadegan, Sesto*
Douglas Williams, Achilla*
Matthew Deming, Nireno*
Rolfe Dauz, Curio*
and featuring Davon, as herself*
(Left to right) Top: Randall Scotting (Cesare); Song Hee Lee (Cleopatra); Chuanyuan Liu (Tolomeo); Raha Mirzadegan (Sesto).
Bottom: Meridian Prall (Cornelia); Douglas Williams (Achilla);Matthew Deming (Nireno); Rolfe Dauz (Curio)
EARLY MUSIC BAND RUCKUS
Doug Balliett, bass
Andrew Blanke, oboe
Joseph Monticello, flute
Elliot Figg, harpsichord
Coleman Itzkoff, cello
Ravenna Lipchik, violin
Paul Holmes Morton, guitar/theorbo
Manami Mizumoto, violin
Rebecca Nelson, violin
Jessica Troy, viola (Stephen Goist on 4/30 and 5/2)
Nate Udell, horn
Clay Zeller-Townson, bassoon
CREATIVE TEAM
Associate Producer: Daniel Stermer
Costume Design: Terese Wadden*
Lighting Design: Masha Tsimring
Dramaturg: Joseph Cermatori*
Scenic Associate: Jiaying Zhang
Assistant Director: Michael Hofmann*
Hair and Makeup Design: Matia Emsellem*
Supertitles: Steven Jude Tietjen
Music Staff: David Sytkowski*
Scenic construction by Consigli Construction*
Residency in partnership with Kaatsbaan Cultural Park*
ABOUT R.B. Schlather
R.B. Schlather is an American artist and opera director, associated with immersive installations and unconventional stagings that push the boundaries of traditional operatic performance. His work has been praised for challenging norms and creating new and engaging experiences for audiences. In 2023 he was profiled in The New York Times as a rare American opera director bringing “fresh visions to Europe’s opera stages.”
In the 2024/25 season he returns to Oper Frankfurt for a premiere of Verdi’s Macbeth conducted by Thomas Guggeis and starring Nicholas Brownlee and Tamara Wilson. Previous productions for Oper Frankfurt include Puccini’s Madama Butterfly (2022, 2023), Cimarosa’s L’Italiana in Londra (2021, 2024) released on Blu-ray/DVD by Naxos, and Handel’s Tamerlano (2019, 2022).
Recent highlights include a double bill of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Britten’s Rape of Lucretia for the Shepherd School of Music with conductor Ben Manis, and Handel’s Rodelinda (New York Times critic’s pick 2023) commissioned by Hudson Hall in Hudson, NY. This was the first in a series of Handel productions Schlather has been commissioned to produce for the historic theater in collaboration with the early music band Ruckus. And it continues his interest in exploring the composer’s work in alternative spaces. Alcina (2014) and Orlando (2015) were presented as open process art installations in galleries on the Lower East Side, live-streamed and open to the public (The New York Times: “a valuable project that deserves enthusiastic support,” “a gift given to the NY cultural scene”). Ariodante (2016) was presented as an open process salon during his artist residency at Brooklyn’s National Sawdust, and later at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art as part of Opera Omaha’s 2018 ONE Festival. And in 2019, Schlather made his European debut at Oper Frankfurt with an immersive, site-specific production of Tamerlano for the city’s Bockenheimer Depot warehouse. This was a critical success and audience favorite and revived for their 2022/23 season.
Other career highlights include Cosi fan tutte at The Santa Fe Opera conducted by Harry Bickett (“Revelation of the summer season” – The Wall Street Journal), Fluxconcert for the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, co-curated with conductor Christopher Rountree (The New Yorker Best Performances 2018), The Mother of Us All at Hudson Hall at the historic Hudson Opera House (one of the “Best Classical Music Performances of 2017” – The New York Times), the world premiere of composer David Hertzberg’s The Wake World conceived for The Barnes Foundation as part of the inaugural Opera Philadelphia O Festival (Best New Opera 2017 Music Critics Association of North America), The Rose Elf for Death of Classical at Green-Wood Cemetery, John Adams’ Doctor Atomic at Curtis Opera Theater, Philip Glass and Robert Moran’s The Juniper Tree at Wolf Trap Opera, Philip Glass’ Madrigal Opera atNational Sawdust with Choral Chameleon, Philip Glass’ In The Penal Colony at Boston Lyric Opera (The New York Times’ Best Performances 2015), and Salome at Fisher Center at Bard with conductor Leon Botstein.
Schlather has directed performances for Oper Frankfurt, The Santa Fe Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gran Theatre del Liceu, National Sawdust, Fisher Center Bard, Tanglewood Music Festival, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Omaha, Wolf Trap Opera, Curtis Institute of Music, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, IlluminArts, and at the Perez Art Museum Miami, The School | Jack Shainman Gallery, Barnes Foundation, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Bockenheimer Depot, Hudson Opera House, Bemis Center for the Arts, White Box Art Center, Boston Center for the Arts. He was an Artist-in-residence at National Sawdust for 2016/17 season, and an Emerging artist during Boston Lyric Opera’s 2014/15 season. He has taught at Curtis Institute of Music, New York University Tisch School of the Arts, The Banff Center for Arts and Creativity, and Ithaca College, where he received a BA in Art History and minor in drama. He is a member of AGMA, and is represented by Opus 3 Artists.
ABOUT Ruckus
Ruckus is a shapeshifting, collaborative baroque ensemble with a visceral and playful approach to early music. Described as “the world’s only period-instrument rock band” (San Francisco Classical Voice), Ruckus’ core is a continuo group, the baroque equivalent of a jazz rhythm section: guitars, keyboards, cello, bassoon and bass. The NYC-based ensemble aims to fuse the early-music movement’s questing, creative spirit with the grit, groove and jangle of American roots music, creating a unique sound of “rough-edged intensity” (New Yorker) that’s “achingly delicate one moment, incisive and punchy the next” (New York Times). The group’s members are among the most creative and virtuosic performers in North American early music.
Ruckus’ debut album, Fly the Coop, a collaboration with flutist Emi Ferguson, was Billboard’s #2 Classical album upon its release. Performances of Fly the Coop have been described as “a fizzing, daring display of personality and imagination” (New York Times). The Boston Musical Intelligencer describes the group as taking continuo playing to “not simply a new level, but a revelatory new dimension of dynamism altogether… an eruption of pure, pulsing hoedown joy.”
Ruckus is the “house band” for Hudson Hall’s baroque opera productions directed by R.B. Schlather. The New York Times reviewed the 2023 production of Handel’s Rodelinda, praising Ruckus’ unconducted playing as “mercurial, almost improvisatory spirit that responded to the drama in real time.” The ensemble made its Ojai Festival debut in 2022, performing a wide range of music: from Bach, to the improvisational scores of Roscoe Mitchell and George Lewis, to a recital featuring Anthony Roth Costanzo, and an original opera by bassist Doug Balliett. Recent highlights include debuts at the Shriver Concert Hall Series in Baltimore, Boston’s Celebrity Series, Caramoor Festival, and NYC’s Town Hall.
Recent projects include a co-commission of a large-scale work by pioneering artist and NEA Jazz Master Roscoe Mitchell as part of a Bach & Bird Festival alongside the Immanuel Wilkins Quartet, produced by The Metropolis Ensemble. In 2024 Ruckus and violinist Keir GoGwilt premiered The Edinburgh Rollick, bringing to life tunes from the Gow Collections of Strathspey Reels, Books 1 and 2 (1784, 1788).
ABOUT Hudson Hall
Hudson Hall at the historic Hudson Opera House is a cultural beacon in the Hudson Valley, offering a dynamic year-round schedule of music, theater, film, talks, literary events, free workshop for youth and adults, as well as family programs and large-scale city-wide events like the Hudson Jazz Festival. Located in an historic landmark that houses New York State’s oldest surviving theater, Hudson Hall underwent a full restoration and reopened to the public in April 2017 for the first time in over 55 years. The newly restored Hudson Hall reflects Hudson’s rich history in a modern facility that welcomes residents and visitors from throughout our local community, across the nation, and around the globe.
Hudson Hall was built in 1855 as the City Hall for Hudson, New York. From its founding until the building was abandoned in 1962, the magnificent performance hall provided a space for some of the most exciting cultural, social and political events of the day. The great Hudson River School showed their paintings here, Bret Harte read his poems, musical prodigy Blind Tom Higgins captivated audiences, Ralph Waldo Emerson gave a talk titled “Social Aims,” and Susan B. Anthony visited thrice, lecturing to abolish slavery and rallying the cry for women’s suffrage. In 1914, Teddy Roosevelt even regaled a crowd with his adventures in Africa.
Hudson Hall at the historic Hudson Opera House is driven by a civic and social purpose founded in the belief that culture is central to our shared heritage, identity, and future. Its mission is to inspire and promote the arts, play a pivotal role in the cultural and economic advancement of the city and the region, and maintain its historic building, all of which serves to strengthen and unite our community.