In its first season, several of the leading roles were sung by program members, joining guest soloists Jennifer Rowley, a Bel Canto at Caramoor alumna, Tamara Mumford, Amanda Woodbury, and Santiago Ballerini.
Instead, leadership was divided between the concertmaster (Jakob Lehmann) and keyboard player (Crutchfield for Tancredi, Jonathan Brandani for Medea).
For 2020, Teatro Nuovo announced revivals of Rossini's Maometto secondo and Il vero omaggio along with the modern premiere of Donizetti's Miserere in G minor in its original Viennese version of 1843.
Upon the nationwide shutdown of live performances due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Teatro Nuovo announced that its planned 2020 season would be carried over to the 2021 festival.
On September 15, 2020, Teatro Nuovo released the first-ever complete recording of Nicola Vaccai’s Practical Method of Italian Singing, led by Will Crutchfield and featuring 22 singers including Santiago Ballerini, Lawrence Brownlee, Teresa Castillo, Junhan Choi, Georgia Jarman, Alisa Jordheim, Hannah Ludwig, Christine Lyons, Megan Marino, Dorian McCall, Madison Marie McIntosh, Angela Meade, Tamara Mumford, Lisette Oropesa, Daniel Mobbs, Jennifer Rowley, Nicholas Simpson, Michael Spyres, Derrek Stark, Alina Tamborini, Hans Tashjian, and Meigui Zhang.