anniversary
25/26 Season
Anthony Roth Costanzo
Il viaggio a Reims
September 19, 21, 26, and 28, 2025
Academy of Music
Philadelphia Premiere
Exactly 200 years ago, Rossini dared to celebrate the coronation of Charles X with this ebullient satire of class, manners, and the timeless misery of long-distance travel. In his long-awaited American debut, Olivier Award-winning director Damiano Michieletto transforms this showpiece into a theatrical work of art, setting the story in a present-day gallery on the cusp of opening a major exhibition. The production’s rich narrative and visual palette shade Rossini’s joyful musical canvas, blurring the line between life and art. Jack Mulroney Music Director Corrado Rovaris leads a sparkling ensemble cast featuring the luminous soprano Brenda Rae.
Music by Gioachino Rossini
Libretto by Luigi Balocchi
Performed in Italian with English supertitles
Runtime is 3 hours and 15 minutes including one 20-minute intermission
Original production: Dutch National Opera, Royal Danish Opera, and Opera Australia
Inside the Music talk
Saturday, September 6, 2025 at 1:00 p.m.
Athenaeum of Philadelphia
December 19, 20, and 21, 2025
Perelman Theater
Philadelphia Premiere
You could say Vivaldi had a kind of synesthesia when writing The Four Seasons. What does being cold feel and sound like? MacArthur Award-winning playwright and librettist Sarah Ruhl joins Anthony Roth Costanzo to co-conceive a tapestry of Vivaldi’s music, telling an original story about a world in which the seasons are completely out of order. Tony Award-winning set designer Mimi Lien collaborates with M.I.T. materials technologist Jack Forman to fuse art and science, bringing atmospheric events to the stage. Celebrated choreographer Pam Tanowitz creates a maelstrom of dance, director Zack Winokur helms the production, and Corrado Rovaris conducts the rapturous piece, which stars Costanzo.
Music by Antonio Vivaldi
Libretto by Sarah Ruhl
Co-conceived with Anthony Roth Costanzo
Performed in English, Italian, and Latin with English supertitles
Runtime is 2 hours and 5 minutes including one 20-minute intermission
A co-production with SCENE, AMOC*, and Boston Lyric Opera
Inside the Music talk
Saturday, December 13, 2025 at 1:00 p.m. Athenaeum of Philadelphia
The Seasons
Complications in Sue
February 4, 5, 6, and 8, 2026
Academy of Music
World Premiere
One librettist, two actors, four singers, and ten composers join forces to make opera in a brand-new way. In his first opera libretto, Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning playwright Michael R. Jackson (A Strange Loop) traces the life of a woman named Sue whose personality is split in two. Sue’s life, from the mundane to the extraordinary, unfolds before us, with each decade scored by a different musical luminary. Opera Philadelphia favorites Missy Mazzoli (Breaking the Waves, The Listeners), Rene Orth (10 Days in a Madhouse ), and Nico Muhly ( Dark Sisters ) return alongside a panoply of company debuts from notable composers, like GRAMMY® nominee Nathalie Joachim. The production stars MacArthur Genius and cabaret icon Justin Vivian Bond, with Zack Winokur directing, and conductor Caren Levine making her Opera Philadelphia debut.
Music by Andy Akiho, Alistair Coleman, Nathalie Joachim, Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, Rene Orth, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Kamala Sankaram, Dan Schlosberg, and Errollyn Wallen
Performed in English with English supertitles
Runtime is approximately 100 minutes with no intermission
Inside the Music talk
Saturday, January 31, 2026 at 1:00 p.m. Athenaeum of Philadelphia
April 22, 24, and 26, 2026
Academy of Music
World Premiere
In this opera, the chorus has the starring role. Composer Gregory Spears , whose music has been called “astonishingly beautiful” ( The New York Times), “coolly entrancing” (The New Yorker), and “some of the most beautifully unsettling music to appear in recent memory” (The Boston Globe ), creates a labyrinthine soundscape to accompany a dream-like rendering of the fairytale “Sleeping Beauty,” inspired by modernist writer Robert Walser. As the Opera Philadelphia Chorus sings itself in and out of slumber, the voices pull us into a liminal space where time is both fractured and cyclical. Conceived with and directed by the transformative Jenny Koons, this visually dazzling world premiere activates a collective voice to question the fragile line between waking and dreaming. Corrado Rovaris conducts.
An opera by Gregory Spears
Inspired by the writings of Robert Walser and others
Directed by Jenny Koons
Performed in English with English supertitles
Runtime is approximately 90 minutes with no intermission
Inside the Music talk
Saturday, April 18, 2026 at 1:00 p.m.
Athenaeum of Philadelphia
Sleepers Awake
The Black Clown
May 14, 15, 16, and 17, 2026
Miller Theater
Philadelphia Premiere
Creator and opera revolutionary Davóne Tines brings Langston Hughes’ poem “The Black Clown” to musical life in a vaudevillian rendering of this masterpiece. Fusing gospel, opera, jazz, and spirituals into a searing night of theatrical brilliance, The Black Clown embodies the evolving, divided soul of Black America and animates a Black man’s resilience against a legacy of oppression. The Black Clown has been hailed as “pure poetry” by The Boston Globe , and The New York Times lauds “this rich, seamless production melds the past and present of African-American history into an electrifyingly ambivalent whole.” Tines makes his Opera Philadelphia debut alongside an ensemble of 12 performers in this genre-bending, visually arresting piece, juxtaposing dazzling cathartic performances with Hughes’ enduring work.
An adaptation of the Langston Hughes poem by the same name Co-created by Davóne Tines, Michael Schachter, and Zack Winokur
Original music by Michael Schachter
Directed by Zack Winokur
Choreographed by Chanel DaSilva
Additional Arrangements by Jaret Landon
Performed in English
Runtime is 70 minutes with no intermission
Produced by ArKtype
Inside the Music talk
Saturday, May 9, 2026 at 1:00 p.m.
Athenaeum of Philadelphia
50th Anniversary Gala
Saturday, September 13, 2025 Academy of Music and Reading Terminal Market
Celebrate 50 years of Opera Philadelphia in a singular event that harnesses bold new technology to marry music and visual art. Vox Ex Machina, our golden anniversary gala, will bring together opera stars and emerging artists, translating their voices into visual works of art live onstage at the Academy of Music through an innovative partnership with Drexel University’s ExCITe Center and artist and creative technologist Daniel Belquer . This one-of-a-kind concert will be followed by festivities at Philly’s beloved Reading Terminal Market. Mark your calendars—you won’t want to miss this!
Sponsorships on sale now. More information at operaphila.org/gala
Single tickets and performance-only tickets go on sale Thursday, May 1 to Opera Pass holders and Donors $100+, and on Thursday, May 15 to the general public.
Vox Ex Machina
Tickets
Subscriptions
Enjoy first access to tickets and keep your favorite seats from season to season by becoming an Opera Philadelphia subscriber. Choose from an Opening Night, Friday, or Sunday Academy Series Package, see the operas at the Perelman and Miller with a Flex Package, and join us for the entire season! Subscribe by Wednesday, April 30 to guarantee your preferred seats.
Opera Philadelphia subscribers enjoy:
• First access to tickets and seats
• The same Academy seats year-over-year
• Free ticket exchanges and upgrades
• Access to Pick Your Price presale
• Flexible payment plans
• A complimentary 25/26 Season tote bag and poster
• Invites to Between the Notes talks and the spring Annual Meeting
Explore packages, series charts, and pricing at operaphila.org/subscribe
Introducing Opera Pass
Pick Your Price returns this season, alongside a new program called Opera Pass, offering our growing community of opera lovers special perks and events, as well as an exclusive Pick Your Price presale May 1-14. Opera Passes are available now for just $11 a month or $111 a year.
Learn more at operaphila.org/operapass
On-Sale Dates
Thursday, April 3
Subscriptions
Single ticket presale for donors $250+ Opera Passes
Thursday, May 1
Pick Your Price presale for subscribers, donors $100+, and Opera Pass holders
Thursday, May 15
Standard and Pick Your Price tickets
After the astonishing success of Pick Your Price, this groundbreaking initiative returns, giving new audiences an on-ramp to opera and reaffirming our commitment to making art a civic right.
We are thrilled to offer Pick Your Price tickets to every performance this season, including the 50th Anniversary Gala performance, and we look forward to welcoming new and familiar faces throughout the year.
Pick Your Price is possible thanks to the generosity of our supporters, whose belief in art brings it to a much wider audience and creates a future for opera. We invite you to support this movement. Please give today.
operaphila.org/support
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anniversary