Opera Season, 2004–2005

It's that time of the year again, when opera houses around the world start sending out information on their new productions. Here is a sampling of some of the more interesting operas you could see. (The Met radio broadcasts begin on December 11, 2004, with Verdi's I Vespri Siciliani. Here is the schedule for 2004–2005.)

MARK ADAMO
World premiere of his new opera, Lysistrata, or the Nude Goddess, adapted from Aristophanes, at the Houston Grand Opera (March 4 to 19, 2005)

BENJAMIN BRITTEN
Billy Budd (1951), with Samuel Ramey as John Claggart, Washington National Opera (September 18 to October 3, 2004)

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1960), at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Amsterdam (December 7 to 31, 2004)

The Turn of the Screw (1954), at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Amsterdam (March 18 to 31, 2005)

FRANCESCO CAVALLI
The Munich premiere of La Calisto (1652), with Ivor Bolton conducting, at the Bayerische Staatsoper (starting on May 9, 2005)

CLAUDE DEBUSSY
Pelléas et Mélisande (1902), with Anne Sofie von Otter as Mélisande, Metropolitan Opera (January 29 to February 8, 2005; radio broadcast on February 5, 2005)

For some reason, everyone and his brother is doing Pelléas this year. It is also on the program, for the first time, at the Bastille Opera in Paris, in a production by Robert Wilson and with Sylvain Cambreling conducting (starting September 16, 2004). Richard Jones will produce it for the Bayerische Staatsoper (September 18 to October 2, 2004). Véronique Gens will sing Mélisande at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin (from October 10 to November 1, 2004). Georges Prêtre will conduct the opera at La Scala in Milan (November 2005).

GEORGE ENESCU
Oedipe (1936), at the Vienna Staatsoper (beginning on April 15, 2005)

UMBERTO GIORDANO
Andrea Chénier (1896), with Plácido Domingo conducting, Washington National Opera (September 11 to October 2, 2004)

JACQUES FROMENTAL HALÉVY
La Juive (1835), with Neil Shicoff as Eléazar (reprised from his performances at the Met this year), Vienna State Opera (starting on November 9, 2004)

GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL
Hercules (1745), with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants, at the Garnier in Paris (December 6 to 27, 2004)

Bejun Mehta sings the title role in Orlando (1733), latest in the Handel opera cycle from New York City Opera (March 20 to April 7, 2005)

Rodelinda (1725), with Renée Fleming in the title role and Bejun Mehta (see above) as Unolfo, Metropolitan Opera (December 2, 2004, to January 6, 2005; radio broadcast on January 1, 2005)

PAUL HINDEMITH
Sancta Susanna (1922), at La Scala in Milan (March 10 to 23, 2005)

TOSHIO HOSOKAWA
Hanjo (1955), at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels (September 7 to 12, 2004)

LEOŠ JANÁČEK
Kát'a Kabanová (1921), with Karita Mattila in the title role, Metropolitan Opera (December 17, 2004, to January 12, 2005; radio broadcast on December 25, 2004) (also at the Garnier in Paris, October 28 to November 19, 2004)

The Cunning Little Vixen (Das Schlaue Füchslein, 1923), at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin (December 25, 2004, to January 11, 2005)

From the year of the composer's death, From the House of the Dead (Aus einem Totenhaus, 1928), at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin (February 19 to March 1, 2005)

GYÖRGY LIGETI
In its Royal Danish Opera production, the American premiere of Le Grand Macabre (1978), San Francisco Opera (October 29 to November 21, 2004)

BOHUSLAV MARTINU
A revival of the 2000 production of The Greek Passion (1957), commissioned for and then rejected by Covent Garden, at Covent Garden in London (September 15 to October 1, 2004)

OLIVIER MESSIAEN
Saint François d'Assise (completed in 1983 and premiered in the United States by the San Francisco Opera in 2002), with José Van Dam in the title role, at the Bastille Opera in Paris (October 6 to November 5, 2004)

SERGEI PROKOFIEV
War and Peace (1945), at the Bastille Opera in Paris (March 17 to April 8, 2005)

Love of the Three Oranges, at De Nederlandse Oper in Amsterdam (beginning on June 2, 2005)

JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU
Isaac Mizrahi and the Mark Morris Dance Group return with their production of Platée (1745), New York City Opera (September 28 to October 16, 2004)

ANTONIO SALIERI
Europa riconosciuta (1778), with Riccardo Muti conducting, at La Scala in Milan (December 7, 2004, to January 15, 2005)

ALFRED SCHNITTKE
Gesualdo (1995), at the Vienna Staatsoper (beginning on December 22, 2004)

RICHARD STRAUSS
The rarely performed Daphne (1938), with Elizabeth Futral in the title role, New York City Opera (September 8 to October 3, 2004) (also at the Vienna State Opera, starting on September 20, 2004)

Der Rosenkavalier (1909), with Susan Graham as Octavian, Metropolitan Opera (March 11 to April 2, 2005; radio broadcast on April 2, 2005)

Another exciting production of Der Rosenkavalier, with Deborah Voigt as Die Feldmarschallin, Sophie Koch as Octavian, and Christian Thielemann conducting, at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin (January 12 to 18, 2005), as part of a Strauss festival there

PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
The Teatro Regio di Torino's production of The Maid of Orleans (1881), with Mirella Freni as Joan of Arc, Washington National Opera (March 26 to April 11, 2005)

RICHARD WAGNER
Nikolaus Lehnhoff's production (from the Lyric Opera of Chicago) of Der fliegende Holländer (1843), San Francisco Opera (November 10 to December 1, 2004)

Metropolitan Opera telecast (date to be announced April 3, 2005, 2 pm), on PBS, of Otto Schenk's production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1868), with Karita Mattila (Eva), James Morris (Hans Sachs), Thomas Allen (Beckmesser), and René Pape (Pogner)

The new Keith Warner production of half of Der Ring des Nibelungen, with Bryn Terfel as Wotan, Philip Langridge as Loge, at the Royal Opera at Covent Garden in London (Rheingold in January 2005, Walküre in March 2005; Plácido Domingo and Waltraud Meier will sing Siegmund and Sieglinde for the Walküre production in July 2005)

Tannhäuser (1845), with Deborah Voigt as Elisabeth and Thomas Hampson as Wolfram, Metropolitan Opera (November 18 to December 18, 2004; radio broadcast on December 18, 2004)

The Peter Sellars production (with scenery designed by Bill Viola) of Tristan und Isolde (1865), with Esa Pekka Salonen conducting, at the Bastille Opera in Paris (April 16 to May 7, 2005)