Love and Longing by the Lake 

A trio of chamber operas, including two world premieres from The Summer Place, a new opera inspired by oral histories and true accounts of life at Chautauqua Institution across the decades. Conceived to be performed outdoors on the grounds of Chautauqua, The Summer Place is a fitting celebration of Chautauqua in its sesquicentennial year. This hour-long evening of opera is rounded out with the -charming and poignant story of Pepito.  

Pepito 
Music by Nicolás Lell Benavides 
Libretto by Marella Martin Koch 

In Pepito, written in 2019, a lonely shelter dog is yearning for his old family until a young couple, Camila and David, visit, seeking the ideal canine companion. When Camila immediately forges a bond with the dog, Pepito, the shelter manager, questions whether Camila and David are truly prepared to take on a new pet.  

A.E Reverie and Love, Loss and the Century Upon Us were co-commissioned by Chautauqua Opera Company and Opera Memphis, with the generous support of the Chautauqua Opera Guild, Jeanie Mercer and Breen Bland. The libretto of The Summer Place was commissioned in full by the Chautauqua Opera Guild.