Boston Early Music Festival: Pyramus & Thisbe

NEC Jordan Hall · Photo: Mahdi Assari via Google

• When: Sat, Nov 28, 2026 at 8 p.m.; Sun, Nov 29 at 3 p.m.
• Where: NEC Jordan Hall, 30 Gainsborough St, Boston, MA 02115
• Cost: Prices vary by seat; virtual tickets also sold
• Organizer: Boston Early Music Festival

Get TicketsOfficial Event Page

The Boston Early Music Festival's Chamber Opera Series brings John Frederick Lampe's Pyramus & Thisbe to New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall on Saturday, November 28, 2026 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, November 29 at 3 p.m. It is an 18th-century English mock-opera built on the play-within-a-play from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and this new production weaves in music and dance from Purcell's The Fairy Queen.

Who is performing

• Paul O'Dette and Stephen Stubbs, musical directors
• Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière, stage director and choreographer
• Robert Mealy, concertmaster

Pre-opera talks and streaming

Musicologist and author Ellen T. Harris gives a talk one hour before each Boston performance. If you cannot come in person, BEMF sells virtual tickets for a streamed version that premieres on Saturday, December 12 at 8 p.m. Eastern and stays available until 11:59 p.m. on December 27. (The production also plays Troy, New York, on November 27; that date is not in Boston.)

Getting there and nearby

Jordan Hall is at 30 Gainsborough Street, off Huntington Avenue near Symphony Hall. The Handel and Haydn Society's Messiah plays Symphony Hall the same weekend, so early-music fans can see both. Looking further ahead, BEMF's biennial festival returns June 6-13, 2027, with Telemann's Emma und Eginhard as its centerpiece opera; the concert schedule is due in late 2026.

How to watch

This is a filmed virtual premiere, not a live stream of the Jordan Hall performances. BEMF releases the recording online on Saturday, December 12, 2026 at 8 pm Eastern, and it stays up until 11:59 pm Eastern on December 27, so you can watch any time in that window. A virtual ticket is $25, and it comes free with an in-person ticket.

Streaming details from BEMF's virtual tickets page, checked November 2, 2026. Broadcast plans can change, so check before you settle in.

Details checked against the Boston Early Music Festival chamber opera page on September 28, 2026. Dates and times can change; confirm with the organizer before you go.