The Shakespeare Concerts presents highlights from Joseph Summer’s opera, Hamlet. May 2 at 7:30 PM in the BrickBox Theater at the Jean McDonough Arts Center in downtown Worcester, MA.

Summer’s Hamlet opera will be released April 22, 2022, on Navona Records. The original cast from the Bulgarian premiere and Navona recording: Omar Najmi (Hamlet), Brianna Robinson (Ophelia), Melanie Forgeron (Player Queen), Evan Bravos (Claudius), and Michelle Trainor (Gertrude); will appear with internationally renowned Czech pianist Miroslav Sekera, Neave Trio cellist Mikhail Veselov, and hornist Josh Michal; under the musical direction of Brett Hodgdon of the Boston Lyric Opera in ten scenes and arias from the opera; directed for the stage by Brendon Fox.

Critic Lynn Bayley of Music Arts Lounge wrote, “This is the best musical setting of scenes from Shakespeare’s Hamlet I’ve ever heard, and it’s a shame that Summer hasn’t expanded these songs into a complete opera (particularly with this tenor in the title role). I’d be the first to want to review it if he did.“