Repertoire History
2021/22
Cavalleria Rusticana, Mascagni
Svadba, Sokolovic (operabox.tv)
Blythely Ever After
Soul(Signs): Opera (operabox.tv)
B. (operabox.tv)
Champion: An Opera in Jazz, Blanchard/Cristofer
2003/04
Rigoletto, Verdi
Tosca, Puccini
Così Fan Tutte, Mozart
Hansel and Gretel, Humperdinck (OYA)
2002/03
Carmen, Bizet
Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Rossini
The Abduction from the Seraglio, Mozart
La Rondine, Puccini
Die Fledermaus, Strauss
The Barber of Seville, Rossini (OYA)
2001/02
Don Carlos, Verdi
Resurrection, Machover
Don Pasquale, Donizetti
La Bohème, Puccini
The Daughter of the Regiment, Donizetti (OYA)
2000/01
Madama Butterfly, Puccini
Don Giovanni, Mozart
Salome, Strauss
The Daughter of the Regiment, Donizetti
The Magic Flute, Mozart (OYA)
1999/00
Aïda, Verdi
Akhnaten, Glass
Die Zauberflöte, Mozart
Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, Foss (OYA)
1998/99
La Traviata, Verdi
Roméo et Juliette, Gounod
Le Nozze di Figaro, Mozart
1997/98
Deborah Voigt in concert
Lucia di Lammermoor, Donizetti
The Ballad of Baby Doe, Moore
Werther, Massenet
1996/97
Tosca, Puccini
The Shepherd King, Mozart
L’Elisir d’Amore, Donizetti
1995/96
Faust, Gounod
Falstaff, Verdi
Xerxes, Handel
1994/95
Rigoletto, Verdi
Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Rossini
Candide, Bernstein
1993/94
I Puritani, Bellini
Carmen, Bizet
The Postman Always Rings Twice, Paulus
1992/93
La Bohème, Puccini
Beatrice and Benedict, Berlioz
Wuthering Heights, Floyd
1991/92
La Cenerentola, Rossini
Lost in the Stars, Weill
The Tales of Hoffman, Offenbach
1990/91
The Daughter of the Regiment, Donizetti
Ariadne auf Naxos, Strauss
Regina, Blitzstein
1989/90
Tosca, Puccini
The Flying Dutchman, Wagner
La Traviata, Verdi
1988/89
The Portrait of Manon, Massenet
Thérèse, Massenet
Dialogues des Carmélites, Poulenc
1987/88
Maria Stuarda, Donizetti
The Turn of the Screw, Britten
1986/87
Rigoletto, Verdi
The Rake’s Progress, Stravinsky
1985/86
Agrippina, Handel
Façade, Walton
La Voix Humaine, Poulenc
The Barber of Seville, Rossini
1984/85
First the Music, Then the Words, Salieri
The Impresario, Mozart
1982/83
Ariadne auf Naxos, Strauss
Il Trovatore, Verdi
Madama Butterfly, Puccini
1982/83
Der Ring des Nibelungen, Wagner
1981/82
Norma, Bellini
The Abduction from the Seraglio, Mozart
Werther, Massenet
1980/81
Amahl and the Night Visitors, Menotti
La Clemenza di Tito, Mozart
The Consul, Menotti
The Coronation of Poppea, Monteverdi
1979/80
King for a Day, Verdi
1977/78
Zaïde, Mozart
Past Initiatives
New Works
PRODUCTIONS
2018/19 | SCHOENBERG IN HOLLYWOOD | TOD MACHOVER | Emerson Paramount Center, Robert J. Orchard Stage| World Premiere
2017/18 | THE NEFARIOUS, IMMORAL BUT HIGHLY PROFITABLE ENTERPRISE OF MR. BURKE & MR. HARE | JULIAN GRANT & MARK CAMPBELL | The Cyclorama at the Boston Center for the Arts | World Premiere
BLO has reaffirmed its commitment to new works and has built relationships with today’s leading composers and librettists, often in conjunction with the Company’s acclaimed Opera Annex series. “Commissioning new works and bringing them to Boston audiences first is one of my highest priorities for Boston Lyric Opera’s next decade,” says Stanford Calderwood General & Artistic Director Esther Nelson. New works like these push the boundaries of the operatic art form forward, challenge audiences to listen and experience opera anew, and provide opportunities for artists at every level, from singers to composers, writers to designers, from Boston and from around the world.
Opera Annex, 2009-2018
OPERA ANNEX PRODUCTIONS
2017/18 | THE NEFARIOUS, IMMORAL BUT HIGHLY PROFITABLE ENTERPRISE OF MR. BURKE & MR. HARE | JULIAN GRANT & MARK CAMPBELL
The Cyclorama at the Boston Center for the Arts | World Premiere
2016/17 | GREEK | MARK-ANTHONY TURNAGE
Emerson/Paramount Center
2015/16 | IN THE PENAL COLONY | PHILIP GLASS
The Cyclorama at Boston Center for the Arts
2014/15 | THE LOVE POTION | FRANK MARTIN
Temple Ohabei Shalom
2013/14 | LIZZIE BORDEN | JACK BEESON
The Castle at Park Plaza | World Premiere of a BLO-commissioned chamber opera edition
2012/13 | CLEMENCY | JAMES MACMILLAN
Artists for Humanity EpiCenter | Co-commissioned by BLO and US Premiere
2011/12 | THE LIGHTHOUSE | PETER MAXWELL DAVIES
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum
2010/11 | THE EMPEROR OF ATLANTIS, OR DEATH QUITS | VIKTOR ULLMANN
The Calderwood Pavilion at Boston Center for the Arts
2009/10 | THE TURN OF THE SCREW | BENJAMIN BRITTEN
The Castle at Park Plaza
Opera Annex played an integral role in promoting BLO’s mission of building curiosity and support for opera through theatrically compelling productions and programs. For each Opera Annex, the Company sought out operas that are not readily available (such as rarely-performed works and premieres) and presented these works in evocative venues like The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum, The Castle at Park Plaza, Artists for Humanity EpiCenter, Temple Ohabei Shalom, and most recently, the Cyclorama at the Boston Center for the Arts.
In addition, Opera Annex has allowed BLO to reach far beyond Boston with its first commercial recording and to make an enduring contribution to the operatic canon with commissions such as James MacMillan’s Clemency and a reduction of Jack Beeson’s American classic, Lizzie Borden. The Boston Globe has called the program “increasingly essential” while The New York Times predicted that BLO’s Opera Annex will “catch the interest of opera-goers around the country.”
Opera for Young Audiences (OYA), 1999-2011
BLO’s Opera for Young Audiences (OYA) – an annual production performed in English in one hour, fully staged, for Metro Boston families and New England schoolchildren.