Opera Preview, 2005–2006

This is not a complete list of opera around the world, of course, only a selection of operas this season that interest me. For another perspective on the season, see Curtain goes up on 2005-2006 Opera season (International Herald Tribune, September 3).

SEPTEMBER
Antonin Dvořák, Rusalka
September 9 to 27
Opéra national de Paris (also a production at the Prague National Theatre and Prague State Opera, September 1 to June 12)
See the reviews compiled by Charles T. Downey (Ionarts, September 13)

Isabel Mundry, Ein Atemzug - Die Odyseee [WORLD PREMIERE]
September 7 to 11
Deutsche Oper (Berlin)
See the reviews compiled by Charles T. Downey (Ionarts, October 7)

Offenbach, La Grande Duchesse de Gerolstein
September 10 to October 1
Frederica von Stade and Paul Groves, directed by Garry Marshall
Los Angeles Opera
See the reviews compiled by Charles T. Downey (Ionarts, September 29)

Verdi, I Vespri Siciliani
September 17 to October 4
Maria Guleghina as Elena
Washington National Opera
See the review by Jens F. Laurson (Ionarts, September 29)

Dvořák, Čert a Káča (Kate and the Devil)
September 17 to June 17 (7 performances)
Prague National Theatre

Carl Nielsen, Maskarade
September 19 to October 13
Royal Opera House at Covent Garden
See the review by Robert R. Reilly (Ionarts, October 3)

Gaetano Donizetti, Roberto Devereux (concert performances)
September 20 and 24
Opéra de Lyon

Giuseppe Verdi, Macbeth
September 22 to October 5
Canadian Opera Company (Toronto)

Paul Hindemith, Cardillac
September 24 to October 20
Alan Held, new production conducted by Kent Nagano
Opéra national de Paris
See the reviews compiled by Charles T. Downey (Ionarts, October 5)

Richard Strauss, Ariadne auf Naxos
September 24 to October 11
Metropolitan Opera

Aribert Reimann, Das Schloss
Based on Franz Kafka's The Castle
September 25 to October 1
Deutsche Oper (Berlin)

Jan van Vlijmen, Thyeste [WORLD PREMIERE]
September 27 to October 10
Théâtre de la Monnaie (Brussels)
See the reviews compiled by Charles T. Downey (Ionarts, October 13)

Smetana, Libuše
September 28, October 28, May 8
Prague National Theatre


OCTOBER
John Adams, Doctor Atomic [WORLD PREMIERE]
October 1 to 22
The biggest premiere of the season!
San Francisco Opera
See the review by Karren L. Alenier (Ionarts, October 4)

Paul Dukas, Ariane et Barbe-Bleue
October 6 to 22
Conducted by Leon Botstein
New York City Opera

Bizet, L'Arlésienne (incidental music with the play by Alphonse Daudet)
Adaptation by Jean-Claude Carrière
October 9 and 16
Théâtre Impérial de Compiègne

Jake Heggie, The End of the Affair (premiered in 2004)
October 15 to 29
Libretto based on the novel by Graham Greene
Seattle Opera

Wagner, Ring Cycle (Das Rheingold, October 19 to November 1; Die Walküre, October 21 to November 5; last two operas in January)
Conducted by Christoph Eschenbach and staged by Robert Wilson
Théâtre du Châtelet (Paris)
See the reviews compiled by Charles T. Downey (Ionarts, October 31)

Shostakovich, Lady Macbeth of the Mzensk District
October 19 to February 1 (8 performances)
Hungarian State Opera (Budapest)

Georges Bizet, The Pearl Fishers
October 20 to 23
Opera Carolina (Charlotte, N.C.)

Richard Strauss, Ariadne auf Naxos
October 22 to 30
Pittsburgh Opera

Richard Rodney Bennett, The Mines of Sulphur
October 23 to November 5
New York City Opera
See the reviews compiled by Charles T. Downey (Ionarts, November 4)

Giuseppe Verdi, A Masked Ball (Un Ballo in Maschera)
October 23 to November 6
Opera Company of Philadelphia

Gershwin, Porgy and Bess
October 29 to November 19
New production directed by Francesca Zambello
Washington National Opera
See the review by Jens F. Laurson (Ionarts, November 5)

Kurt Weill, Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny
October 30 to November 22 (4 performances)
Deutsche Oper (Berlin)

Tippett, The Midsummer Marriage
October 31 to November 18
Royal Opera House at Covent Garden
See the reviews compiled by Charles T. Downey (Ionarts, November 16)

NOVEMBER
Emmanuel Chabrier, L'Étoile
November 5 to 17
L'Opéra de Montréal
See the reviews compiled by Charles T. Downey (Ionarts, November 19)

Rachel Portman, The Little Prince
November 12 to 20
Directed by Francesca Zambello
New York City Opera
See the reviews compiled by Charles T. Downey (Ionarts, November 26)

Vincenzo Bellini, La Sonnambula
November 12 to 20
Valeria Esposito as Amina
Baltimore Opera
See the review by Charles T. Downey (Ionarts, November 14)

Handel, Tamerlano and Alcina
November 13
Les Talens Lyriques, conducted by Christophe Rousset, with Bejun Mehta
Théâtre du Châtelet (Paris)
See the reviews compiled by Charles T. Downey (Ionarts, November 11)

Dmitri Shostakovich, The Nose
November 14 to 19
Mariinsky Theatre production, conducted by Valery Gergiev
Opéra national de Paris
See the reviews compiled by Charles T. Downey (Ionarts, December 3)

Gounod, Roméo et Juliette
November 14 to December 1
Ramón Vargas and Natalie Dessay in a new production
Metropolitan Opera
See the review by Anthony Tommasini (New York Times, November 19)

Michael Tippett, The Midsummer Marriage
November 19 to December 16
Lyric Opera of Chicago
See the reviews compiled by Charles T. Downey (Ionarts, November 21)

Wagner, Parsifal
November 26 to December 17
Plácido Domingo, directed by Robert Wilson, conducted by Kent Nagano
Los Angeles Opera
See the reviews compiled by Charles T. Downey (Ionarts, December 6)

Jean-Philippe Rameau, Les Paladins (concert performance)
November 27
Les Arts Florissants, William Christie
Opéra de Lyon

Offenbach Festival (November 23 to December 10)
Concert performances of Les Fées du Rhin (1864), Monsieur Choufleuri restera chez lui le... (1861), Petit Voyage dans la Lune (1875), L'Ile de Tulipatan (1868)
Opéra de Lyon
See the reviews compiled by Charles T. Downey (Ionarts, December 2)

Jean-Philippe Rameau, Dardanus (1739)
November 30 to December 5
With Paul Agnew (Dardanus), conducted by Antony Walker, directed by Justin Way
Pinchgut Opera (Sydney, Australia)
See the reviews compiled by Charles T. Downey (Ionarts, January 10, 2006)


DECEMBER
Prokofiev, Love of Three Oranges
December 1 to 29
New production, conducted by Sylvain Cambreling
Opéra national de Paris
See the reviews compiled by Charles T. Downey (Ionarts, January 18, 2006)

Tobias Picker, An American Tragedy, based on Dreiser's 1925 novel [WORLD PREMIERE]
December 2 to 28
Directed by Francesca Zambello, with Susan Graham, Nathan Gunn, Jennifer Larmore
Metropolitan Opera
See my comments on the Met broadcast of this opera and my catalogue of press reviews of the premiere

Benjamin Britten, The Rape of Lucretia
December 7 to 17
Portland Opera (Young Artists Program)
See the reviews compiled by Charles T. Downey (Ionarts, January 12, 2006)

Alban Berg, Wozzeck
December 27 to January 6
Metropolitan Opera
See the review by Anthony Tommasini (New York Times, December 29)

--> Go to the Opera Preview 2006.