As 2019 gets underway, we're thrilled to share the following list of new operas premiering this year.
L'Enigma di Lea | Benet Casablancas
Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, Spain
February 9 – 13 2019
Libretto: Rafael Argullol
Stage Director: Carme Portaceli
Conductor: Josep Pons
In Casablancas' first opera, the creature Lea is banished to a timeless void after stumbling upon the secret to immortality. As her ominous and ethereal odyssey unfolds through time and space, her mythological pursuit of love and mortality leads to a climax of absolute truth.
Tickets and more information
Jack the Ripper: The Women of Whitechapel | Iain Bell
English National Opera, London Coliseum, London, UK
March 30 – April 12 2019
Libretto: Emma Jenkins
Stage Director: Daniel Kramer
Conductor: Martyn Brabbins
In 1888, a disadvantaged group of working-class women are drawn together in their determination to survive the murderous terror that stalks London's Whitechapel. This opera explores powerful themes of community and perseverance, while interrogating the hypocrisy of ‘respectable' society. Bell and Jenkins present this iconic mystery through a refreshingly modern lens, over a century after Jack the Ripper's unsolved murders took place.
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The Phoenix | Tarik O'Regan
Houston Grand Opera, TX
April 26 – May 10 2019
Libretto & Stage Director: John Caird
Conductor: Patrick Summers
Mozart's notorious librettist is reborn! Lorenzo Da Ponte led a scandalous life that rivaled the drama in his most popular stories Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, and The Marriage of Figaro. Originally a Venetian priest and poet, he was banished from Venice when exposed of his connections to many brothels (and his secret family with two children). A lucky encounter with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Austria led Da Ponte to flourish as a librettist, and newfound fame gained him access to the upper echelons of European society. Yet after much success, Da Ponte found himself bankrupt and needing to flee once more. He sought refuge in America where he made a modest living as a grocer before rising again to establish New York City's first opera company in 1833.
Schlagt sie tot! | Bo Holten
Malmö Opera, Malmö, Sweden
May 11 – June 1 2019
Libretto: Eva Sommestad Holten
Stage Director: Peter Oskarson
Conductor: Patrik Ringborg
Schlagt sie tot! is an opera about the Reformation and Martin Luther. It explores the dramatic events of the time period and puts Luther's theological uprisings in both a human and political perspective by portraying a world of violent change.
Tickets and more information
Stonewall | Iain Bell
New York City Opera, Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater, New York, NY
June 19 – 23 2019
Libretto: Mark Campbell
Stage Director: Leonard Foglia
Conductor: Carolyn Kuan
Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, Stonewall is a moving and explosive new American opera that captures the rage, grit, humor, and hope of the LGBTQ community's uprising in a Greenwich Village dance club on a hot night in June 1969. The 85-minute work is divided into three parts and follows a diverse group of characters whose lives collide when the police push them too far and they find the courage to fight back.
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prisoner of the state | David Lang
New York Philharmonic, David Geffen Hall, New York, NY
June 6 – 8 2019
Libretto: David Lang (after Bouilly, Sonnleithner, and Treitschke)
Stage Director: Elkhanah Pulitzer
Conductor: Jaap van Zweden
prisoner of the state is the story of a woman who disguises herself as a prison guard to rescue her husband from unjust political imprisonment. This visionary reworking of Beethoven's sole opera Fidelio finds composer/librettist David Lang both celebrating and challenging his source material through the lens of contemporary political imprisonment. Cast, chorus, and orchestra all play integral parts in the drama of this fully staged opera.
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The Thirteenth Child | Poul Ruders
Santa Fe Opera, Santa Fe, NM
July 27 – August 21 2019
Libretto: Becky and David Starobin
Stage Director: Darko Tresnjak
Conductor: Paul Daniel
Forget about magic beans and bowls of porridge — this fairy tale is a “down-to-the-wire” thriller, inspired by the Brothers Grimm. A paranoid king banishes his twelve sons in favor of Lyra, the thirteenth child. When Princess Lyra learns about her long-lost brothers, she embarks on a quest to find them. Like all of the best fairy tales, it has an enchanted forest, riddles, a handsome prince, a horrible mistake, and a nearly impossible feat for Princess Lyra to perform if everything is to be put right.
Tickets and more information
For more information on the operas above, or any works in our opera catalog, please contact Marcos Cuevas.
