Castleton Festival returns

The Castleton Festival, the four-week round of opera, orchestral and chamber performances produced by conductor Lorin Maazel and his wife, Dietlinde, on their estate in the Rappahanock County foothills of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, returns for a second summer, with new stagings of Puccini’s "Il Trittico," Stravinsky’s "L’Histoire du Soldat" ("The Soldier’s Tale") and Manuel de Falla’s "Master Pedro’s Puppet Show."

The festival, July 2-25, also will mount revivals of Benjamin Britten’s "The Turn of the Screw" and Britten’s arrangement of "The Beggar’s Opera," as well as the Castleton Festival Orchestra in an all-Beethoven program and evenings of Italian, French and American music, and three chamber recitals by festival participants at The Theatre at Washington, VA.

"Il Trittico," comprising the one-acts "Il Tabbaro," "Suor Angelica" and "Gianni Schicchi," will be presented in its entirety three times, with three more performances of two of the three operas, all in Castleton’s Festival Tent. Other theatrical works will be presented in the 140-seat Theatre House. Maazel will conduct "The Beggar’s Opera" and the Stravinsky-De Falla pairing; Timothy Myers will conduct "The Turn of the Screw." William Kerley is the stage director of all the opera productions, with designs by Nicholas Vaughan and lighting by Rie Ono.

"Master Pedro’s Puppet Show" will feature Emily DeCola and Eric Wright of the Puppet Kitchen, with choreography by Faye Driscoll.

Built on the artist apprenticeship and training program established by the Maazels' Châteauville Foundation in 1997, the festival brings some 200 young singers, instrumentalists, conductors and theater artists to the 550-acre Castleton Farms to work with and learn from Lorin Maazel and other leading professionals in opera and orchestral music.

Castleton is located about 60 miles southwest of Washington, DC, and within two hours’ driving time from Richmond and Baltimore.

Festival tickets are $20-$85 for single performances, with weekend passes available for $172 and a festival pass, for admission to one opera and four concerts, available for $475.

For ticket purchases, directions, information on nearby accommodations and other information about the festival, call (866) 974-0767 or visit http://www.chateauville.org/

The 2010 Castleton Festival schedule:

July 2 (7 p.m., Festival Tent) – Puccini: "Il Trittico" ("Il Tabarro," "Suor Angelica," "Gianni Schicchi"), Maazel conducting. (Gala, with dinner.)

July 3 (2 p.m., Theatre House) – Britten: "The Turn of the Screw," Timothy Myers conducting.

July 3 (7 p.m., Festival Tent) – Castleton Festival Orchestra, Maazel conducting. Respighi: "The Pines of Rome," "The Fountains of Rome;" orchestral music from operas by Rossini, Verdi, Puccini.

July 4 (2 p.m., Festival Tent) – "Il Trittico."

July 5 (7 p.m., The Theatre at Washington, VA) – recital by festival participants. Program TBA.

July 8 (7:30 p.m., Theatre House) – "The Turn of the Screw."

July 9 (7:30 p.m., Festival Tent) – "Il Tabarro," "Gianni Schicchi."

July 10 (2 p.m., Festival Tent) – "Suor Angelica."

July 10 (7 p.m., Festival Tent) – Castleton Festival Orchestra, Maazel conducting. Works by Berlioz, Debussy, Ravel.

July 11 (2 p.m., Festival Tent) – "Il Tabarro," "Gianni Schicchi."

July 11 (7 p.m., Theatre House) – "The Turn of the Screw."

July 12 (7 p.m., The Theatre at Washington, VA) – recital by festival participants. Program TBA.

July 15 (7:30 p.m., Theatre House) – Gay-Britten: "The Beggar’s Opera," Maazel conducting.

July 16 (7:30 p.m., Festival Tent) – Maazel Master Class Concert. Gershwin: "An American in Paris," Maazel conducting; works by Barber, Bernstein, Copland, master class participants conducting.

July 17 (7 p.m., Theatre House) – "The Beggar’s Opera."

July 18 (2 p.m., Festival Tent) – "Il Trittico."

July 19 (7 p.m., The Theatre at Washington, VA) – recital by festival participants. Program TBA.

July 22 (7:30 p.m., Festival Tent) – "Suor Angelica," "Gianni Schicchi."

July 23 (7:30 p.m., Theatre House) – Stravinsky: "L’Histoire du Soldat" ("The Soldier’s Tale"); De Falla: "Master Pedro’s Puppet Show," Maazel conducting.

July 24 (7 p.m., Festival Tent) – "Il Trittico."

July 25 (2 p.m., Theatre House) – "L’Histoire du Soldat," "Master Pedro’s Puppet Show."

July 25 (7 p.m., Festival Tent) – Castleton Festival Orchestra, Maazel conducting. Beethoven: Symphony No. 2, Symphony No. 3 ("Eroica").

WETA (90.9 FM), the DC-area public radio station, will broadcast concerts at 9 p.m. July 5 and July 19 and productions of "Il Trittico" at 1 p.m. July 10, "The Beggar’s Opera" at 1 p.m. July 14 and "The Turn of the Screw" at 1 p.m. July 17. WETA can be heard online at http://www.weta.org/fm/listenlive