Our Mission

Boston Summer Opera is joyfully building a summertime operatic hub for musicians and audiences alike, filling a unique space in the Commonwealth’s musical landscape. We are committed to producing high-quality performances that uplift local emerging artists while making opera accessible, engaging, and community-centered. Our mission is to celebrate Boston’s flourishing musical community, foster deep engagement with diverse audiences, and ensure that opera can be enjoyed by everyone in the city year-round, barrier-free.

We are run by young artists for young artists.

Our Values

  • The heart of Boston Summer Opera is a vibrant, welcoming community of young artists who lift one another up both on and off stage. We believe that this sense of belonging is what allows great art to flourish.

  • We view collaboration as essential to artistic and personal growth. Boston Summer Opera encourages our artists to explore new aspects of their creativity, both onstage and behind the scenes. Every voice, from cast to crew, is valued and contributes meaningfully to our shared success.

  • We recognize the opera industry’s long history of inequity and actively work to change it. We avoid reinforcing harmful stereotypes and reimagine classics in ways that reflect the values and diversity of today’s world. We work to build safe and affirming spaces, where LGBTQ+ and BIPOC artists and audience members alike feel welcomed and supported. For us, inclusivity means fostering belonging, encouragement, and mutual respect at every level of our organization.

  • We break down barriers that prevent both artists and audiences from engaging with opera. Our performances are affordable or free, rehearsals are educational and supportive, and our young artists never pay to participate. We provide valuable opportunities for young artists to gain vital performance experience, professional training, and mentorship, while giving audiences the chance to experience opera in approachable, welcoming spaces.

  • We perform the greatest works of the operatic canon at the highest possible caliber. Boston Summer Opera strives to help all creative participants be the best version of themselves, on and off stage. As our artists grow as musicians, they grow as people.

We are proud to participate in Mass Cultural Council's Card to Culture program in collaboration with the Department of Transitional Assistance, the Department of Public Health's WIC Nutrition Program, the Massachusetts Health Connector, and hundreds of organizations by making cultural programming accessible to those for whom cost is a participation barrier.

EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare cardholders receive 100% free admission to all Boston Summer Opera events, whether you get your ticket(s) online or in person. This includes mainstage opera performances and all concerts. We do not require photo IDS, nor do we require EBT, WIC, or ConnectorCare cards to receive this discount. See the complete list of participating organizations offering EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare discounts. 

Testimonials

  • “As a young artist, it can be incredibly difficult to find high-quality opera performance opportunities that don't require you to pay exorbitant fees, travel out of state/country, or spend an entire month (or more) away from your home and family. Boston Summer Opera successfully fills that niche. Through BSO, I was able to learn, be coached on, and perform a new role (with professional orchestra!!) all without having to pay the thousands of dollars that most summer programs would charge.”

    — Boston Summer Opera artist

  • "I had the valuable opportunity to cover a leading role and got several individual coachings on the role as well!

    ... It was such a rewarding experience and I felt really valued, which doesn't always happen as a young artist understudying a role! It was inspiring to collaborate with so many talented, local colleagues, and it made me excited to stay in Boston and continue growing both as an artist and in arts administration.

    — Boston Summer Opera artist

  • “It was a safe space to get creative and silly. I feel a real effort was made to recognize the work of every cast member big and small, and to make as many opportunities for people of all different backgrounds in music to be highlighted as possible.

    … it was awesome to get to be a part of this production with professionals and learn from them.”

    — Boston Summer Opera artist

  • “Fantastic and uplifting performance. To see young opera singers pull that full length opera together at such a high level with such few resources was nothing short of inspiring! Keep it up.”

    — Audience member

  • “Loved the performance and location. Not going into Boston is a bonus! Venue was great. Such a talented cast in person is a joy!”

    — Audience member

  • “It was great! Loved how accessible it was for someone who hasn’t been to an opera before.”

    — Audience member

Meet the Team

  • Hannah Shanefield (she/her)

    EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

    Soprano Hannah Shanefield’s fearless versatility as a performer, stage director, and creative leader is quickly establishing her as one of New England’s most sought-after artistic voices. She is the Executive Director of Boston Summer Opera, Artistic Director of NEMPAC's Opera on the Prado series, Community & Education Manager with Guerilla Opera, and a teaching artist with Boston Lyric Opera.

    Her operatic roles include Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Juliette (Roméo et Juliette), Gilda (Rigoletto), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Suzel (L'amico Fritz), Euridice (Orfeo ed Euridice), Diana (La Calisto), the titular role in The Cunning Little Vixen, Madame Herz (The Impresario), La Grande Prêtresse/Une Bérgère (Hippolyte et Aricie), Jenny (Rorem's Three Sisters Who Aren't Sisters), the Sandman/Dew Fairy (Hansel and Gretel), and Berta (Il Barbiere di Siviglia).

    ​Recent stage directing projects include: The Pirates of Penzance (Boston Summer Opera), Alcina (MassOpera), Die Fledermaus (The Opera Company), Don Giovanni (Boston Summer Opera), and Il Giuoco del Quadriglio by Antonio Caldara and J.S. Bach's Coffee Cantata (West End Lyric).

    Equally as enthusiastic about concert works, Hannah has recently performed the soprano solos in Villa-Lobos’s Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, Amy Beach’s Jephthah’s Daughter, Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem, F. Couperin's Trois Leçons de Ténèbres, J.S. Bach’s BWV 150 and BWV 196, Mozart's Requiem, and Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms.​

    A diverse repertory enthusiast, Hannah is passionate about championing new music and the works of underrepresented composers. She has collaborated on concerts with White Snake Projects, Boston Festival Orchestra, Horizon Ensemble, Analog by Choice, Boston Music Project, and Milton Community Concerts.

    A native of suburban Philadelphia, Hannah holds her Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the New England Conservatory. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance with a minor in Music History from the Hartt School.

  • Luca Antonucci (he/him)

    MUSIC DIRECTOR

    Luca Antonucci is Music Director of the Orchestra Without Borders of Boston and Boston Summer Opera and Assistant Conductor of the Berkshire Opera Festival.

    A native of Watertown, MA, Antonucci is a graduate of Amherst College, the Hartt School of Music, and the University of Michigan, and the recipient of numerous academic and musical awards, including a Fulbright Fellowship to study the works of Arnold Schoenberg in Vienna, where he attended classes at the MdW and performed in the Vienna Konzerthaus and at the Wiener Tag der Blasmusik. Other studies include the Miami Music Festival, the European American Musical Alliance in Paris, the Eastman Conducting Institute, where he conducted the Rochester Philharmonic, and two appearances in Benjamin Zander’s Interpretation Classes in Boston.

    Performances at the University of Michigan included Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 (Jupiter) and Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin, as well as performances of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 and Romeo and Juliet, Stravinsky’s Firebird, Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Cosí Fan Tutte, Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, and works by Florence Price, Reena Esmail, William Grant Still, Nkeiru Okoye, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Dame Ethel Smyth, and Jessie Montgomery.

    Luca has assisted a number of prominent conductors, including preparing a series of performances of Mendelssohn’s Elijah for Dr. Eugene Rogers at the Centro Cultural Kirchner in Buenos Aires, as well as regular work with the Portland Symphony Orchestra, the Ann Arbor Symphony, and Opera in the Heights, and has served as a recording producer for the Grammy-winning University Orchestras in their Michigan Orchestral Repertory for Equity project. 

    A multifaceted musician, Luca has worked as a choral and orchestral conductor in the Hartford and Boston areas as well as freelance trumpet player, private teacher, singer, church music director, and educator. As a member of the faculty at the Brimmer and May School, he was awarded an innovation grant to develop new curricula addressing the needs of a diverse, 21st-century student body and worked with leading jazz and world music artists in the Boston area.

    Recent appointments include Music Director of the Michigan Life Sciences and Michigan Pops Orchestras, the Manchester Symphony, and the Lincoln-Sudbury Civic Orchestra. He previously served as conductor of the Pioneer Valley Youth Orchestra and Interim Conductor of the Pioneer Valley Symphony in Greenfield, MA.

    In his free time, Luca enjoys cooking, dabbling in jazz piano, and listening to opera.