Vanessa in NYC

"The Williamstown Theatre Festival provided a rich and artistically expansive creative laboratory. Surrounded by an extraordinarily talented community of theater artists across disciplines, I found the level of support everyone showed for one another deeply inspiring. Knowing that the audience would often be filled with my fellow artists challenged me to pursue a deeper dramatic truth rather than simply relying on the beauty of the music. That environment helped me uncover the emotional core of Vanessa, and returning to the piece now feels like bringing that discovery to life again for New York audiences."
– Inna Dukach, who will reprise her role as Vanessa in the NYC run

Vanessa was developed by Heartbeat Opera at Williamstown Theatre Festival as part of W71 in 2025.

Direct from the legendary Williamstown Theatre Festival—where it was praised as “top among” the festival’s “jewels” by The New York Times and named BEST OF 2025 by The Washington Post—Heartbeat Opera’s searing new adaptation of Vanessa makes its much-anticipated NYC premiere.

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 appears—though not as they expect—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).

“★★★★★. Vanessa grabs the audience like a vise. Unforgettable, truly.” (New York Stage Review)

Inna Dukach in Vanessa as part of W71 at Williamstown Theatre Festival (2025); photo by Maria Baranova