The Sembrich, Bolton Landing’s lake shore performance space and opera museum, is now open for the season.

“The museum’s new exhibits reveal the accomplishments of Marcella Sembrich’s life including showcases of her many tributes. Additional displays highlight the Flonzaley Quartet and its founder as well as a “La Boheme” exhibit,” said Executive Director Beth Barton-Navitsky.

The museum also features memorabilia from Sembrich’s stage career, as well as furniture and fine art collected from her travels throughout Europe. Photographs depict the singer in a variety of roles, and framed letters to Madame Sembrich from legendary composers such as Puccini, Strauss, Rachmaninoff, and Verdi are on display.

Old Wicked Songs

The highlights of the season’s live performances and presentations include musical celebrations   of great composers; genres of international music such as African drumming and Klezmer in World Music Wednesdays; a piano recital by the renowned Christopher Johnson; a vocal performance by contralto Lucille Beer; and a number of lectures on musical greats, including “Bartók in the Adirondacks,” by distinguished New York University professor Michael Beckerman.

“We are once again bringing our audiences world-renowned performers and music to enjoy along the scenic shores of Lake George,” said Barton-Navitsky. “Richard Wargo, Artistic Director and Composer-in-Residence, has developed a summer schedule filled with traditional classics topped off with music from around the world.”

“Under the descriptive banner of Weekends with the Masters, the season ahead at The Sembrich presents a diverse lineup of programs that we trust will include something to appeal to every taste,” said Wargo. “July 7, 2011 marks the 100^th birthday of the great Italian-American composer, Gian Carlo Menotti, and we’ll be celebrating the occasion with Opera Saratoga in an evening that will include a performance of Menotti’s effervescent comic buffa  “The Telephone.”

Christopher Johnson

From July 21to 23, the Sembrich will pair a reading of Jon Marans’ Pulitzer-nominated play “Old Wicked Songs,” with a performance of Robert Schumann’s “Dichterliebe.”  The play concerns a student and his music professor, worlds apart and at odds, who find common ground and understanding through the study of this set of Schumann lieder. Wargo says that The Sembrich is an ideal venue in which to delve into a theme over the course of several days.

“This event presents a unique opportunity to experience a beautiful, moving work of theater read by world-class actors, to hear one of the most expressive works in the vocal repertoire performed by a pair of up-and-coming young musicians and to meet first-hand the playwright Jon Marans who will be on hand to direct,” says Wargo.

The museum is located at 4800 Lake Shore Drive and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 2 to 5:30 p.m.  Admission is by donation. It is operated by the Marcella Sembrich Memorial Association, Inc., a not-for-profit organization founded in 1940, honors the life and career of internationally renowned soprano, Marcella Sembrich.

Media Sponsor for the museum’s 2011 season is The Lake George Mirror. Programming is sponsored in part by Warren County, the Town of Bolton, Bolton Recreation Commission,  LARAC and Stewart’s Holiday Match.

For more information about The Sembrich Museum or for a complete calendar of the 2011 summer performances visit www.thesembrich.org or contact the office at (518) 644-2431 or the museum at  (518) 644-9839.