Hudson, NY – Following the success of GIULIO CESARE in 2025 and RODELINDA in 2023, Hudson Hall announces the next two productions in its Handel on the Hudson series with visionary opera director R.B. Schlather and early music band Ruckus: the rarely heard DEIDAMIA in spring 2027; and a beloved classic, MESSIAH,in December 2027. Both productions will get the Schlather treatment: boldly daring, chic, unconventional staged reimaginings, confirming Hudson’s reputation as a Baroque opera destination. Watch the trailer here.
Written in 1741, both DEIDAMIA and MESSIAH mark turning points in Handel’s career. His last opera in Italian, DEIDAMIA is seldom performed today, though it has remarkable depth and invention, dealing with the vulnerability of first love, the drama of hiding in plain sight, and existential questions about purpose and destiny. Similarly, the English oratorio MESSIAH is a powerfully introspective and meditative study of human experience for chorus and soloists, though it happens to be one of the most widely performed works in the world. It represented a bold shift in Handel’s creative direction as he began writing for new audiences. Doing these pieces together in a season is a fascinating juxtaposition of the obscure and the iconic.
R.B. Schlather says: “Following what’s fashionable has never been my interest. More than a few rolled their eyes at my love for Handel’s operas, until I found a champion in Hudson Hall. Four years ago I pitched them RODELINDA and was unexpectedly offered the commission of a series of Handel productions. I had a dream that if we could first build an audience with RODELINDA and GIULIO CESARE, two of his most famous titles, we just might be able to offer DEIDAMIA. Because of the incredible audience that has rallied around these past productions, the discovery of Ruckus as simpatico co-conspirators, and the appetite of Hudson Hall for theatrical risk, it is a dream come true to be presenting not one, but two productions in 2027: the first major production of DEIDAMIA in almost 25 years in America, and an untraditional staging of MESSIAH.”
DEIDAMIA
DEIDAMIA dramatically retells the Greek myth of Achilles’ concealment on the island of Skyros. There, disguised as a girl, he’s fallen in love with the princess Deidamia, who loses him to destiny when he’s discovered. Handel powerfully blends elements of comedy and tragedy, exploring themes of love, identity, and destiny.
Hudson audiences can expect a bold and surprising use of the space, and Schlather’s trademark talent for stripping opera down to focus on the characters’ emotional lives. The exciting conductorless ensemble Ruckus plays on period instruments, but with theatricality and up close collaborative intensity. “The group’s approach to Baroque music is bold, swaggering, high energy, and unapologetically modern,” wrote The Berkshire Edge after Schlather’s GIULIO CESARE in 2025.
Schlather has a gift for “eliciting thrilling, risk-taking performances from his collaborators,” noted Observer in 2025. DEIDAMIA will feature a cast of rising and established artists, including soprano Emily Richter in the title role (2024 Grand Prize Winner of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and second-year member of the Ryan Opera Center with the Lyric Opera of Chicago); GRAMMY-winning countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen as Ulisse, acclaimed for his “astonishingly beautiful,” “golden toned” instrument (The Guardian); and Brazilian-American soprano Sophia Hunt as Achille, praised as “exceptionally strong both vocally and dramatically” (Parterre Box). The cast also includes mezzo-soprano Meredith Wohlgemuth as Nerea and tenor William Socolof as Fenice, with bass-baritone David Pittsinger as Lycomedes.
The creative team includes the return of GIULIO CESARE collaborators Joseph Cermatori (dramaturg), Terese Wadden (costume design), Erica Zhang (scenic associate), Matia Emsellem (hair and makeup), Skye Bronfenbrenner (movement, fight, intimacy), and Daniel Stermer (associate producer). Zack Lobel joins the team as lighting designer.
MESSIAH
MESSIAH, beloved for its beautiful, singable music and unforgettable choruses, was radical and experimental in its time. By blending the concert hall with the church—setting sacred biblical scripture to the theatrical style of Italian opera—Handel broke the established liturgical rules of his era and created an entirely new musical experience.
Schlather’s production is environmentally conceived as a ritual of reflection, timed to coincide with the December sunset through Hudson Hall’s historic, town hall-style windows. The featured soloists will be familiar to audiences from RODELINDA and GIULIO CESARE, alongside a chorus drawn from Hudson-based community organizations. This abridged and distinctively staged MESSIAH offers a new way to engage with the iconic work.
SCHLATHER + RUCKUS
The twelve-member ensemble Ruckus forms the musical heart of DEIDAMIA and MESSIAH, and they reunite with R.B. Schlather to continue the vitality and sold-out successes of GIULIO CESARE and RODELINDA. This dynamic collective brings together some of today’s leading Baroque instrumentalists. At its core is a continuo-driven lineup of guitars, keyboards, cello, bassoon, and bass, with violin, flute, and oboe adding color and texture.
A singular artistic partnership, Schlather and Ruckus have drawn praise for their unusual and charismatic approach to Handel’s operas at Hudson Hall. In The New York Times, Zachary Woolfe praised the ensemble’s GIULIO CESARE performance as “tight” and “wild” as a band, while Joshua Barone called them “stars” in his review of RODELINDA, noting their mercurial, near-improvisatory approach and the emotional intensity they brought to the drama.
“LOCAVORE” OPERA IN HUDSON
Schlather’s productions at Hudson Hall are grounded in a distinctly local ecosystem of artists, collaborators, and community. This approach of building an opera from the ground up with artists drawn from the surrounding community gives the work an immediacy and sense of ownership rarely found in larger institutions. Schlather, who lives just a few streets from the theater, continues to cultivate a deeply local creative network while forging partnerships that extend Hudson’s reach outward. The company resides at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, and preview events are planned with Handel Hendrix House, National Sawdust, and more.
The ambitious pairing of DEIDAMIA and MESSIAH also coincides with the tenth anniversary of the 2017 restoration and reopening of Hudson Hall’s historic theater, as well as of Schlather and Hudson Hall’s first collaboration, THE MOTHER OF US ALL, named one of the “Best Classical Music Performances” of 2017 by The New York Times.
National critics have been paying attention since the Handel on the Hudson series was first announced in 2023. The New York Times designated the first two Schlather productions as Critics’ Picks, giving Hudson Hall the imprimatur of global reach as a “baroque opera destination.” In his review of RODELINDA, Joshua Barone noted that “the gift” of Hudson Hall’s space “is that, without too much effort by either the audience or the artists, you can hear every nuance of Handel’s music and its interpretation.” (This summer, Schlather reimagines RODELINDA for the much larger outdoor venue of the Santa Fe Opera).
Regional critics have high praise as well. “With its campy edge, swaggering wit, and kinetic staging, this show is a thoroughly modern vision of what opera can be—one powered by sheer glee and enthusiasm and guided by an extraordinary unity of vision,” wrote David Noel Edwards in The Berkshire Edge after GIULIO CESARE. Writer Seth Rogovoy noted that 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.”
“Hudson Hall has created a space where R.B. Schlather, Ruckus, and a close-knit team of collaborators can develop innovative, accessible opera in one place,” said Executive Director Adam Weinert. “That kind of sustained process creates a sense of immediacy and vitality you can feel in the room, and it’s something we’re committed to building on as the series continues in 2027.”
DEIDAMIA
2027:
April 17 at 4pm
April 20 at 6pm
April 23 at 6pm
April 25 at 3pm
May 1 at 6pm
May 2 at 3pm
Hudson Hall at the historic Hudson Opera House
327 Warren Street
Hudson, NY 12534
Opera by G.F. Handel, premiered at Lincoln’s Inn Fields Theatre on January 10, 1741
Sung in Italian with English supertitles
Tickets go on sale to members Fall, 2026; on sale to the public in January 2027
Direction and Production by R. B. Schlather*
CAST
Emily Richter, Deidamia
Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, Ulisse
Sophia Hunt, Achille*
Meredith Wohlgemuth, Nerea
William Socolof, Fenice*
David Pittsinger, Lycomedes*
EARLY MUSIC BAND RUCKUS
Doug Balliett, bass
Elliot Figg, harpsichord
Coleman Itzkoff, cello
Caitlyn Koester, harpsichord
Ravenna Lipchik, violin
Manami Mizumoto, violin
Joseph Monticello, flute
Paul Holmes Morton, guitar/theorbo
Rebecca Nelson, violin
Rafa Prendergast, violin/viola
Clay Zeller-Townson, bassoon
CREATIVE TEAM
Associate Producer: Daniel Stermer
Scenic Associate: Erica Zhang
Costume Design: Terese Wadden*
Lighting Design: Zack Lobel
Dramaturg: Joseph Cermatori*
Residency in partnership with Kaatsbaan Cultural Park
*Regional ties
RELATED DEIDAMIA EVENTS
June – August, 2026
Handel Sets Sail
Concerts on the Schooner Apollonia, Hudson River, Hudson
Featuring members of Ruckus with DEIDAMIA cast member Meredith Wohlgemuth (June 6), GIULIO CESARE cast member Douglas Ray Williams (July 11), and Fiona Gillespie (August 8).
June 20, 2026
The Inner Core, Hudson Hall, Hudson
Composed by Matthew Aucoin. Performed by Aucoin and DEIDAMIA cast member William Socolof
November 8, 2026
Recital with DEIDAMIA cast member Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen at Hudson Hall, Hudson
December 2–4, 2026
Residency at National Sawdust, Brooklyn
Open rehearsals featuring R.B. Schlather, Ruckus, and members of the castMarch 6, 2027
Preview at Handel Hendrix House, London
April 3 and April 10, 2027
Free and open rehearsals at Hudson Hall, Hudson
April 17, 20, 23, 25, May 1, 2, 2027
DEIDAMIA performance run at Hudson Hall
R.B. Schlather
R.B. Schlather is an American artist, opera director, producer and designer associated with immersive installations and unconventional stagings that push the boundaries of traditional operatic performance. His work is recognized for challenging norms and creating new and engaging experiences for audiences. Praised by The New York Times as “one of our more ambitious and effective younger directors,” he has directed critically acclaimed performances for Oper Frankfurt (Amor vien dal destino, Macbeth, Madama Butterfly, L’Italiana in Londra, Tamerlano), Santa Fe Opera (Così fan tutte), Los Angeles Philharmonic (Fluxconcert), Opera Philadelphia (David Hertzberg’s The Wake World), and Boston Lyric Opera (Philip Glass’ In the Penal Colony). His staging of The Mother of Us All at Hudson Hall was named one of the best performances of 2017 by The New York Times, and Vanessa for Williamstown Theatre Festival and Heartbeat Opera named one of the best performances of 2025 by The Washington Post. Future engagements include new productions for the Royal Ballet & Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Aix-en-Provence Festival, and Den Norske Opera & Ballett.
Ruckus
Ruckus is a shapeshifting, collaborative baroque band 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” (The New Yorker). The group’s members are among the most creative and virtuosic performers in North American early music. At the vanguard of American early music, they tour widely across the country. Ruckus is the house band for Hudson Hall’s productions of Handel’s operas, directed by R.B. Schlather. In 2023’s Rodelinda, Ruckus was acknowledged as “the evening’s stars” (The New York Times). Recent and upcoming performances include The Frick Collection, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Sanders Theatre, The Library of Congress and more. In 2026, Ruckus joined Davóne Tines for the ten-city tour What is Your Hand in This?, a wide-ranging program exploring American identity through music spanning early American song to contemporary commissions.
Ruckus’ projects illustrate their wide array of collective interests. From playful evenings of all Bach to a wild free jazz commission from Roscoe Mitchell to toe-tapping folk baroque crossover projects, Ruckus seeks to expand and redefine the parameters of early instruments and baroque music.
Hudson Hall
at the historic Hudson Opera House
Built in 1855 as City Hall, Hudson Hall is an historic building housing New York’s oldest surviving theater. From President Theodore Roosevelt to Susan B. Anthony, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and “Blind Tom” Wiggins, it has hosted artists, intellectuals, and performers whose contributions helped shape the fabric of American cultural life.
Today, Hudson Hall offers a dynamic year-round schedule of performing and visual arts, film, and book events. Its breadth of programs range from free youth and adult workshops, artist residencies, and workforce development for youth, to world-class cultural events such as the Hudson Jazz Festival and the Handel on the Hudson opera series.