Following our 2024 triumph with Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet, we open our season with another take on Shakespeare’s classic. Four of America’s greatest stage artists—composer Leonard Bernstein, lyricist Stephen Sondheim, playwright Arthur Laurents, and director/choreographer Jerome Robbins changed the course of American theater when they updated the tragedy to the rough streets of Manhattan. Director Francesca Zambello gets to the work’s emotional core in a grandly scaled production that features Robbins’s iconic original choreography. Bernstein’s electrifying score will crackle under the baton of James Conlon, conducting the magnificent LA Opera Orchestra.

Rodolfo is a struggling poet, burning his manuscripts to keep out the winter chill. Mimi is his new neighbor, with big dreams and a deadly illness. A chance meeting has them falling in love, but when you’re at the bottom of Parisian society, every day could be your last.

Hailed by critics and beloved by audiences, this eagerly anticipated revival transports you to Ancient Egypt in Philip Glass’s enthralling portrait of a trailblazing pharaoh. Countertenor John Holiday is the titular Akhnaten, determined to lead Egypt into a new age even as his plan to abandon the old gods puts his kingdom (and his life) in peril. Mezzo-soprano Sun-Ly Pierce is his queen Nefertiti, soprano So Young Park is the powerful dowager Queen Tye, and Grammy winner Zachary James reprises his memorable role as Amenhotep III, leading the audience through the ritualistic action on the stage.

Sir John Falstaff finds himself a bit short on cash, so he hatches a scheme: seduce two wealthy (and merry) wives of Windsor and live out his days in luxury. Too bad this bumbling knight sends both his targets the same love letter! Now Alice Ford and Meg Page are set on teaching Falstaff a lesson, and it’s not long before a whole slew of his adversaries join in. Audiences are in for a whirlwind of disguises and deceptions, and maybe even an unexpected dip in the River Thames.

Mozart’s catchy melodies meet astonishing projected animations in our perennial crowd pleaser. Armed with enchanted bells and (you guessed it) a magic flute, Prince Tamino sets off, determined to rescue his lady love, the Princess Pamina—only to find that things aren’t what they seem, and the Queen of the Night who sent him on his quest just might be plotting his doom instead.