In 2023, Handelians from the Big Apple were flocking to the Our Town setting of Hudson, New York, for R. B. Schlather’s streamlined take on the twisted political soap Rodelinda. (Can you flock to a house seating of 271? Maybe not.) Keely Futterer took the title role of a widowed queen in great duress, memorably accompanied by the frisky original-instruments band Ruckus. Last spring, Schlather welcomed day trippers back to Hudson for Giulio Cesare in Egitto, starring Randall Scotting as the Roman conqueror and Song Hee Lee as his serpent of old Nile. To catch Schlather’s perhaps somewhat more mainstream reprise of Rodelinda this summer, his burgeoning fan base will have to hop a plane to New Mexico. This time, Lucy Crowe occupies the heroine’s shaky throne, supported by the Baroque specialist Henry Bicket in charge of an actual orchestra. Much as Schlather flourishes in the let’s-make-a-show ambience of Hudson, where he lives, he’s no stranger to Santa Fe and to big-time opera houses more generally. But those who favor the Columbia County vibe (and Ruckus!) will want to mark their calendars now for the rarity Deidamia in 2027. All Handel operas were rarities a half century ago, of course, but for a handful, that’s no longer the case. Deidamia isn’t one of them. —Matthew Gurewitsch