Bastien and Bastienne (Raylynmor Opera) | Directed & Edited by Ben Robinson | 40 min | 

Music Directed by Joe Turbessi

Synopsis:

Bastienne is upset because she feels that her boyfriend, Bastien, has grown distant from her. She seeks advice from Colas, a magician, who tells her that she should pretend to be disinterested in Bastien so as to win him back. Colas uses his “magic” to fix the problem. When Bastien and Bastienne finally meet face to face, they realize how much they love each other. Colas joins them to celebrate.
https://youtu.be/r2X74Y2mzKQ

Ben Robinson is the Artistic Director of Raylynmor Opera (New Hampshire) and Opera Ithaca (New York), as well as the Managing Director of Lyric Fest (Philadelphia). A critically acclaimed tenor, he works as a director, librettist, and arts administrator. As a stage and film director, he has mounted numerous productions, highlighted by new productions for which he also wrote new English libretti: Madame Butterfly, Macbeth, Hansel, and Gretel,
The Barber of Seville, Die Fledermaus, and Pauline Viardot’s Cendrillon. Ben's film production of Bastien and Bastienne, with his original English libretto setting the action in the social media-obsessed present, was released in March 2021. He directed and edited a film release of Pagliacci for Raylynmor Opera in October 2020 and directed Gianni Schicchi for Opera Ithaca, which Opera Magazine heralded as the "deftest use... of Covid-era technology as part of modern operatic reality."