Announcing the 2024-25 Destiny + Desire Opera Season

Opera Orlando presents its 2024-25 Destiny + Desire season with three original and visually stunning productions on the MainStage of Steinmetz Hall at Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. Subscription packages are on sale now as Opera Orlando invites you to face your destiny and give in to your desires with two Shakespeare-inspired works, a beautiful treatment of a beloved fairy tale, and some stunning verismo. Season packages start at just $89 with season launch pricing. AND save 10% on two season add-on productions: a family-friendly holiday double bill and a Scott Joplin ragtime opera. Save up to $75 by subscribing today.

 

“Our ninth annual season will feature five productions all presented at Dr. Phillips Center for the first time in company history, meaning subscribers can get more opera for less,” shares Opera Orlando general director Gabriel Preisser. “Each production highlights the universal human emotion of desire and how it often conflicts with, impedes, or at times, determines one’s destiny.”

 

MACBETH  |  music by Giuseppe Verdi and libretto by Francesco Maria Piave

sung in Italian with English and Spanish supertitles

 

Friday  |  October 25, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.

Sunday  |  October 27, 2024 at 2 p.m.

 

Opera Orlando’s 2024-25 season kicks off with Macbeth, Shakespeare’s tale of ruthless desire set to some of Verdi’s most magnificent music. This all-new production will be led by stage director Matt Haney and conductor Mark Sforzini, both making their Company debuts.

 

Consumed by the promise of political power and propelled by his ambitious wife, Macbeth, sung by international baritone Norman Garrett, gets caught in a murderous web to claim the throne. A powerful and emotional work, Macbeth is the opera Giuseppe Verdi declared to be “unlike any other!” There is no love story here, just a darkly riveting scramble to grab power at any cost.

 

Macbeth will be sung in Italian with English and Spanish supertitles. The run time for Macbeth will be 2 hours and 45 minutes with one intermission and will feature the Opera Orlando Chorus and Studio Artists, with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra in the pit.

 

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CENDRILLON  |  music by Jules Massenet and libretto by Henri Cain

sung in French with English and Spanish supertitles

 

Friday  |  February 7, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.

Sunday  |  February 9, 2024 at 2 p.m.

 

Opera Orlando presents a fairy tale classic, Jules Massenet’s Cendrillon. Based on Perrault’s French Cinderella tale, that we all know and love, this all-new production will sparkle and enchant audiences.  

 

Bring the whole family to enjoy this delightful opera directed by James Marvel, making his Company debut, with conductor Noam Aviel returning to Orlando to conduct the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra in the pit. This enchanting take on the Cinderella story is full of fun, laughter, and gorgeous music that will charm audiences of all ages. 

 

Cendrillon will be sung in French with English and Spanish supertitles. The run time will be 2 hours and 45 minutes with one intermission and the production will feature the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, the Opera Orlando Chorus, Youth Company, and Studio Artists.

 

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BEATRICE + BENEDICT and CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA  |  music by Hector Berlioz and Pietro Mascagni with librettos by Hector Berlioz and Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci

sung in English and Italian with English and Spanish supertitles

 

Friday  |  April 25, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.

Sunday  |  April 27, 2024 at 2 p.m.

 

Opera Orlando presents two operas rolled into one with Hector Berlioz’s Beatrice + Benedict and Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana. Watch these stories unfold simultaneously on an Easter day in the Sicilian town of Messina. Audiences first watch Berlioz’s comedy, based on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, play out in the town square with weddings and a happy ending for all, and then a more tragic tale is told as Mascagni’s verismo opera happens in the exact same town square.

 

This is an all-new opera mash-up conceived by Company artistic director Grant Preisser. He leads this production joined by conductor Pasquale Valerio making his Company debut. The production will also feature the Opera Orlando Chorus and Youth Company, as well as dancers from Orlando Ballet.

 

Beatrice + Benedict will be sung in English and Cavalleria Rusticana will be sung in Italian.  Both will feature English and Spanish supertitles. The run time for the full evening will be 2 hours and 45 minutes with one intermission.  

 

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SUBSCRIBER ADD-ONS

 

FOUR LOST SANTAS and AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITORS  |  music and libretto by Spicer Carr & Rose Freeman and Gian Carlo Menotti 

sung in English with English and Spanish supertitles

 

Friday  |  December 6, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday  |  December 7, 2024 at 2 p.m.

Saturday  |  December 7, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.

Sunday  |  December 8, 2024 at 2 p.m.

 

Opera Orlando presents the world premiere of Four Lost Santas, a comedic Christmas opera. This fun, family-friendly piece is a lead-in to Menotti’s seasonal favorite Amahl and the Night Visitors, and is the perfect antidote for the hustle and bustle of the season. Join a barbershop quartet of Santas who find themselves lost on their way to what should be their big break: SantaCon! They are thankfully rescued by Judy and Rudy, a mother and son who are running late to their community theater production of Amahl. When they can’t fix the Santas’ car, they all pile into the mom’s car to get into town.

 

They arrive to utter chaos at the theater as the three Kings and Page have quit the production. Rudy is particularly disappointed, but the Santas save the day as they volunteer to sing the roles in Amahl, because of course they have sung them before. As the cast breathes a sigh of relief, the stage manager yells, “Places!” and then begins Amahl and the Night Visitors, a poignant story of a beautiful Christmas miracle. 

 

This pairing is a perfect balance between the commercial and sacred side of the holidays, told by a fantastic cast in the intimate setting of the Alexis and Jim Pugh Theater. Sing along to some of your favorite Christmas carols, and let this new Christmas tradition tug at your heartstrings.

 

Four Lost Santas/Amahl and the Night Visitors will be sung in English with English and Spanish supertitles and have a run time of approximately 90 minutes with no intermission. Learn more about the creation of Four Lost Santas here: Four Lost Santas — Opera Orlando.

 

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TREEMONISHA  |  music and libretto by Scott Joplin

sung in English with English and Spanish supertitles

 

Friday  |  May 16, 2025 at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday  |  May 17, 2025 at 2 p.m.

Saturday  |  May 17, 2025 at 7:30 p.m.

Sunday  |  May 18, 2025 at 2 p.m.

 

Opera Orlando invites you to embark on a life-affirming journey of family and community in a new production of Scott Joplin’s opera Treemonisha. A truly astounding work that resonates on many levels, it is the only opera in existence about the Reconstruction Era African-American experience written by a black man who actually lived through it. This new production will celebrate the past but also reflect the present, highlighting black excellence and the strength, beauty, and wisdom of Black women, all led by stage director Roberta Emerson.

 

Joplin's tuneful score is a lively mix of ragtime, vaudeville, and grand opera, with a big helping of heart and soul. Treemonisha is a young woman who stands against the influence of conjurers, who prey on ignorance and superstition. Through Treemonisha’s confrontation with the conjurers, the community realizes the value of education and Treemonisha leads them all into a bright and bountiful future of education, opportunity, and prosperity.  

 

Treemonisha will be sung in English with English and Spanish supertitles and have a run time of approximately two hours and 30 minutes with one intermission.

 

Opera on the MainStage subscriptions start at $89 and are on sale through the Dr. Phillips Center’s Bill & Mary Darden Box Office (445 S. Magnolia Avenue, Orlando) starting on April 19, online at www.DrPhillipsCenter.org, or by calling (407) 839-0119, ext. 0. Take advantage of special season launch pricing available through July 5. AND take advantage of a 10% discount on two subscriber add-on productions: a family-friendly holiday double bill and a Scott Joplin ragtime opera. Subscribe today to save up to $75! 

 

In addition to its Opera on the MainStage series, Opera Orlando has planned a full season of events including its Summer Concert Series on August 11, 18, and 25 at the University Club of Winter Park. The Company will also go “On Site” March 7 and 9 with a site-specific production of Massenet’s Werther at the Sydonie Mansion in Mt. Dora, FL. Tables are also already selling for the Opera’s annual The Mozart Dinner: an Evening of Enchantment on stage at Steinmetz Hall, February 8, 2025 and the Company will produce a benefit concert presentation of Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín on September 14, 2024 at Steinmetz Hall benefitting the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Florida. Sponsorship packages and individual tickets are now available for the Defiant Requiem HERE. 

 

See YOU at the Opera!

 

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About Opera Orlando:     Celebrating, expanding, and sharing the world’s greatest art form,  the 2023-24 season marks Opera Orlando’s eighth season producing high-quality operatic entertainment and educational programs that engage Central Florida audiences.

Stay up to date with Opera Orlando’s season online at www.OperaOrlando.org, and follow and like the Opera’s Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts to share in all the Company has planned for 2023-24.