Opera Season Highlights 2026-27
Wise Music is pleased to highlight a dynamic lineup of operas taking the stage in the 2026–27 season, along with several new full-length commercial recordings, and a Spotify playlist of vocal favorites by these composers.
From a Scottish historical epic staged in San Francisco, to a fantastical original folk tale unveiled in Amsterdam, to the Metropolitan Opera's first-ever world premiere by a female composer, we are living in an exhilarating time for the art form. As more companies prioritize stories that resonate with our current moment, Wise Music is proud to publish the operas leading the way.
WORLD PREMIERES
Sir John Tavener’s long-awaited final opera receives its world premiere at Grange Park Opera. Conceived as a “mystic pantomime,” the work draws on sacred Sanskrit texts—including the Bhagavad Gita and Bhagavata Purana—to trace the life of the Hindu deity Krishna through a sequence of ritualized tableaux that blend music, dance, and spiritual narrative. Under the baton of Mark Shanahan and directed by David Pountney, with choreography by Shobana Jeyasingh and set design by Rachana Jadhav, the production features an international cast including Sara Fulgoni, Elgan Llŷr Thomas, Brett Polegato, and Julia Sitkovetsky. Running 4 June – 2 July 2026, the production will be followed by its American premiere at Houston Grand Opera.
Testament, Tarik O'Regan / Colm Tóibín
Tarik O’Regan and Colm Tóibín adapt Tóibín’s novel The Testament of Mary, an intimate and powerful meditation on memory, grief, and truth, centered on the mother of Jesus Christ. Exiled and silenced in her final years, Mary relives the last days of her son while pivotal moments from their lives emerge and dissolve around her, blurring the line between lived experience and remembered truth. Premiering with Irish National Opera from July 24 to October 10, the production is conducted by GRAMMY nominee Elaine Kelly and directed by Rachael Hewer.
The Galloping Cure, Missy Mazzoli / Royce Vavrek (after Karen Russell and Franz Kafka)
In their latest opera, Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek turn their long-standing creative partnership toward the topic of addiction, filtering it through a surreal, darkly allegorical lens and drawing on the writings of Karen Russell and Franz Kafka. Described by director Tom Morris as “a lurid tale of the greed surrounding the tragedy of the opioid crisis,” in which a mysterious figure offers a miraculous cure for pain—at devastating cost. Premiering at the Edinburgh International Festival, 9–12 August 2026, this Opera Ventures production reunites Scottish Opera with Mazzoli, Vavrek, and Morris following their previous collaboration, Breaking the Waves. Conducted by Stuart Stratford with the Orchestra of Scottish Opera, the score combines Mazzoli’s lyrical writing with driving, club-influenced rhythmic energy. The cast is led by Daniela Mack, Justin Austin, and Susan Bullock. A major international co-production and co-commission between Opera Ventures, Scottish Opera, NorrlandsOperan AB, the Canadian Opera Company, San Francisco Opera, and State Opera of South Australia, the work is positioned for a substantial international life beyond its premiere, offering companies a visually distinctive and theatrically urgent addition to the contemporary repertoire.
Lincoln in the Bardo, Missy Mazzoli / Royce Vavrek (after Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders)
Marking the first mainstage opera by a woman to be commissioned and premiered solely by The Metropolitan Opera, Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek adapt George Saunders’ Booker Prize–winning novel with performances running 19 October – 14 November 2026. The opera depicts the aftermath of Willie Lincoln’s death, set in a graveyard populated by spirits who observe and respond to Abraham Lincoln’s grief, structured around the novel’s ensemble narration and shifting perspectives. The production is conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Steven Osgood, directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz, and features Peter Mattei, Christine Goerke, Janai Brugger, Stephanie Blythe, Anthony Roth Costanzo, and Ryan McKinny. The Saunders novel is also being developed beyond the operatic stage, with a film adaptation reported to be in development with Tom Hanks as Abraham Lincoln.
Der geheime Garten (The Secret Garden), Jonathan Dove / Peter Lund (after The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett)
Jonathan Dove and librettist Peter Lund adapt Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel The Secret Garden for a new opera at Theater Regensburg, running 5 December 2026 – 9 May 2027. The production continues the theatre’s focus on works for younger audiences, building on its past presentation of Dove’s The Adventures of Pinocchio and extending its “Musical Theatre for Families” series with a work written specifically for the company. The opera follows Mary Lennox, a young girl sent to live in a remote Yorkshire estate, where she discovers a neglected garden that becomes the catalyst for emotional and familial renewal. The production is conducted by Tom Woods and directed by Ronny Scholz, bringing together an ensemble cast in a staging that develops the work’s themes of healing, isolation, and transformation through nature and imagination.
Red Fox, Du Yun / Royce Vavrek
Red Fox receives its world premiere at the Dutch National Opera, running 13–28 March 2027. The production is conducted by Pierre Bleuse and with stage direction by Barrie Kosky. The cast features Annette Dasch, Evelyn Herlitzius, Bo Skovhus, Alexander de Jong, Ya-Chung Huang, and soprano Qian Yi (a specialist in Kunqu) with countertenor John Holiday appearing as the fox. The opera explores three interconnected relationships shaped by the loss of memory and the ways love persists even as shared histories begin to fade. A mystical fox weaves the narratives together, blurring the boundaries between myth and reality. Following their new production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Angel’s Bone, Du Yun and Vavrek reunite with Kosky on a new piece influenced by pop, Chinese folk music, and Western classical traditions.
Hedda Gabler, Vasco Mendonça / Vasco Mendonça and Nina Spijkers (based on the translation by Parick Marber of the original play by Henrik Ibsen)
Vasco Mendonça reimagines Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler for the lyric theatre in collaboration with director Nina Spijkers, who also co-authors the libretto based on Patrick Marber’s English translation of the original play. Outwardly secure in her marriage to Jørgen Tesman, Hedda is driven by a desire for intensity and agency, and the return of Ejlert Løvborg triggers a chain of manipulation and escalating consequence that ultimately unravels with destructive results. The work receives its world premiere at Dutch National Opera, running 19–25 March 2027, conducted by Corinna Niemeyer and performed by Het Muziek (formerly Asko|Schönberg), with a cast including Cecilia Molinari, Iestyn Davies, Miles Mykkanen, Jessica Niles, and Thomas Oliemans. Mendonça’s compositional language is dynamic and emotionally layered, spanning chamber-scale writing to large orchestral textures, as reflected in earlier chamber operas such as House Taken Over and The Girl, the Hunter and the Wolf (Dutch National Opera, 2022).
Empire of Wild, Ian Cusson / Cherie Dimaline (after her novel Empire of Wild)
Ian Cusson and Cherie Dimaline adapt Dimaline’s novel Empire of Wild for the stage in a world premiere at the Canadian Opera Company, running 1–21 May 2027. Conducted by Johannes Debus and directed by Yvette Nolan, the opera features Elisabeth St-Gelais and Elliot Madore in the principal roles. The work follows Joan, a Métis woman searching for her missing husband. She encounters him living as a charismatic preacher named Eugene Wolff, who does not recognize his wife. Rooted in Métis storytelling traditions and drawing on the legend of the Rougarou, the opera explores themes of identity, belief, and resilience within a contemporary operatic framework.
PREMIERE RECORDINGS
The First Child, Donnacha Dennehy
Following The Last Hotel and The Second Violinist, here concludes the acclaimed trilogy of operas by Donnacha Dennehy and Enda Walsh. The First Child is a haunting exploration of the haze of new parenthood and the long-term effects of childhood bullying. The Irish Times writes that “[i]n The First Child, the mundane is made macabre, the ordinary rendered aberrant, by a chilling collision of circumstance and time.” Throughout the opera, Walsh’s recurrent triptychs of simultaneously played scenes are supported by the fierce rhythmic energy, carefully crafted microtonal harmonies, and a gorgeously layered children’s choir.
Florencia en el Amazonas, Daniel Catán / Marcela Fuentes-Berain
Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas, with a libretto by Marcela Fuentes-Berain, is released in a new recording by the Houston Grand Opera. Conducted by Patrick Summers, the recording captures the company’s 2019 production and documents one of the most widely performed Spanish-language operas of the late 20th century. Set aboard a riverboat traveling the Amazon, the work follows the opera singer Florencia Grimaldi as she searches for her lost lover, blending elements of magical realism with a richly lyrical score. Leading the Houston cast in the role of Florencia is the GRAMMY-winning soprano Anna Maria Martinez.
Vanessa, Samuel Barber / Gian Carlo Menotti
A new star-studded recording of Barber and Menotti's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece is released May 29, with Gianandrea Noseda leading the National Symphony Orchestra. Nicole Heaston, J'Nai Bridges, Matthew Polenzani, Thomas Hampson, and Susan Graham all shine in an electrifying live performance from 2025. "Vanessa is a mirror of our society," notes Maestro Noseda; "one we often refuse to look into—much like the protagonist who covers the mirrors in her villa to avoid seeing the marks of time on her face. It’s an extraordinary opera following the 20th-century tradition of Puccini and Strauss, uniquely and profoundly combining European and American style.”
NEW PRODUCTIONS
Angel's Bone (expanded orchestration), Du Yun / Royce Vavrek
From May 12–16 in Manchester and October 16–31 in London, the English National Opera presents the UK premiere of Angel’s Bone in a new production by Kip Williams, created in collaboration with Factory International and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Music, this “disturbing, powerful and original” work (The Washington Post) confronts the realities of human trafficking through a haunting parable of two angels who return to earth. Baldur Brönnimann conducts a cast led by Allison Cook as Mrs. X.E.
A Streetcar Named Desire, André Previn / Philip Littell (based on the play by Tennessee Williams)
André Previn and Phillip Littell’s beloved adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire receives a new production this year, courtesy of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Boston Lyric Opera. The production debuts in St. Louis June 7–26, and travels to Boston November 5-8. Directed by Patricia Racette and conducted by Daniela Candillari, both runs feature Thomas Glass as Stanley Kowalski, with Sara Gartland and Lauren Snouffer playing the DuBois sisters in St. Louis and Brittany Renee and Angela Yam taking over in Boston. Praised for its “confidence in the power of pure lyricism to carry raw emotion” (The Times) and “orchestral scoring [that] is effective and affecting—atmospheric and characteristically ‘American’” (Opera News), this adaptation transforms a classic play into a thrilling operatic experience.
Mary, Queen of Scots, Thea Musgrave / Thea Musgrave (based on Moray by Amalia Elguera)
Scottish composer Thea Musgrave’s portrayal of her country’s most famous queen is “drama on a grand scale […] crammed with power, treachery, passion and murder from start to finish” (BBC Music Magazine). This 1977 opera depicts Mary’s resilience in both her personal life and in the face of her tumultuous politicalrule. Mary, Queen of Scots uses Musgrave’s sophisticated lyricism to powerful effect, and goes up September 20 at San Francisco Opera as the composer’s centenary approaches. With Heidi Stober in the title role, conductor Clelia Cafiero leads Stewart Laing’s production, with both creatives making their company debuts.
Uprising, Jonathan Dove / April De Angelis
Jonathan Dove and April De Angelis' community opera looks at the climate emergency through the eyes of those whom it will affect the most – the youth. How do we cast our eyes beyond the here and now? What is the most effective form of protest, and are we listening carefully enough to those that do? April De Angelis’ lyrical, witty words are matched by Dove’s urgent, impassioned music for a drama that melds the everyday with fantasy, laced with humour, honesty and warmth. A new production by Gable and Romy Roelofsen runs 13–24 November and 16 & 23 May, 2027 at Dutch National Opera; Manoj Kamps directs.
Adriana Mater, Kaija Saariaho / Amin Maalouf
Adriana Mater finds hope where it seems impossible. Amid a brutal civil war, Adriana becomes pregnant following a violent assault by a soldier. She chooses to give birth to the child she conceives, naming her son Yonas and raising him with love and hope for the future, whilst shielding him from the truth about his father. Many years later the young man discovers the truth of his origin, and becomes consumed by the desire for revenge. From November 28-December 12, this English National Opera production unites Artistic Director Annilese Miskimmon and Music Director Designate André de Ridder in their first collaboration, with Kristina Stanek starring in the title role.
La Belle et la Bête, Philip Glass (after the film by Jean Cocteau)
A new production of La Belle et la Bête comes to the Théâtre du Châtelet February 3-11, 2027. Through the use of onstage camera work, director Anne-Cécile Vandalem offers a critical gaze upon the history of cinema and literature. The staging interrogates how dominance is wrought between the masculine and the feminine, and provides a striking new canvas for Philip Glass’ iconic 1994 score.
Breaking the Waves, Missy Mazzoli / Royce Vavrek (based upon the film by Lars von Trier)
Emerging as one of the most powerful contemporary operas of our time, Missy Mazzoli’s Breaking the Waves comes to English National Opera February 13-27, 2027, in a striking new production by Tinuke Craig. Making her ENO debut is Lauren Snouffer makes her ENO debut in the lead role of as Bess McNeill, a role she has sung in major international productions to great acclaim; Joanna Cariero conducts. This hauntingly beautiful opera, adapted from Lars von Trier’s 1996 film, is one of the great narrative meditations on faith, intimacy, agency, and love.
Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s audacious, 2015 chamber opera UR_ is suffused with folk motifs and avant-garde vocal techniques, creating a taut, luminous and immersive musical experience. Netia Jones’ new staging fuses cutting-edge technology with ancient rituals, forging an unmissable, poetic interpretation of this abstract work. Through rivers of speech and shards of language, a human entity travels between past and future, awakening and obscurity, nature and modernity. The Royal Ballet & Opera unveils this production May 27-June 2, 2027 at their Linbury Theatre in London.
Explore our companion feature, Operas in Concert, highlighting stage works ideal for concert performance:
Art’s Afterlives | Feminist Essays | Casting Off Chains: Abolition and the Civil War | The Americas: Latine Culture and History | East Asian Love Stories | Positively Medieval: Stories of the Middle Ages and Renaissance | Classics of English Fiction | The 19th Century: Great Wars and Colonial Sorrows | Upheavals of the 20th Century | The Weight of Motherhood