Jenůfa is keeping secret from everyone that she is pregnant by Števa, whom she loves despite his drinking and womanising. Jenůfa’s stepmother, the Kostelnička, had a violent, alcoholic husband and tells Števa he won’t be allowed to marry Jenůfa unless he stays sober for a year. Števa’s overbearing behaviour towards Jenůfa angers Laca, who loves Jenůfa and is jealous. When Jenůfa defends Števa, Laca becomes enraged. They struggle and he slashes her face with a knife.  

Months later, the Kostelnička and Jenůfa conspire to keep the birth of Jenůfa’s illegitimate baby secret. Števa knows he has a son, but refuses to marry Jenůfa now her face is disfigured. Laca offers to save Jenůfa’s reputation and marry her, but is reluctant to take on Števa’s child. The Kostelnička tells both Laca and Jenůfa that the baby died while Jenůfa slept. But on Jenůfa’s wedding day the terrible truth is revealed. 

Humperdinck's tuneful opera based on a much-loved German fairytale is given a magical staging in Antony McDonald’s mischievous production.

Synopsis:

Siblings Hansel and Gretel neglect their chores and decide to play games instead. Their mother returns and scolds them, accidentally breaking the jug of milk needed for dinner. She sends the children off to the forest to find strawberries. When their father returns home, he is concerned the children may be in danger from a witch who lives in the forest. The children play in the wood, but become lost. They fall asleep, watched over by the creatures of the forest.

The next morning, they discover a house made of cake: it is where the Witch lives! She tricks them inside and uses magic to trap Hansel. With Gretel’s help Hansel is freed and they in turn trick the Witch, who comes to a sticky end. As the Witch's powers of enchantment are lifted, all the children trapped by the Witch are freed, and Hansel and Gretel are reunited with their parents.

Dada meets foxtrot, jazz, ragtime, and blues, in this one-act opera with echoes of Kurt Weill and café-théâtre in Bohuslav Martinů's surreal Larmes de couteau, paired alongside John Harbison’s adaptation of text from WB Yeats for his rarely performed piece Full Moon in March.

Kate Pinkerton Performance Dates: March 14,2023-April 3,2023

Puccini’s devastating tragedy about a young geisha who falls in love with an American naval officer.

Synopsis:

Cio-Cio-San, the young Japanese bride of American naval officer Lieutenant Pinkerton, finds her romantic idyll shattered when he deserts her shortly after their marriage. She lives in hope that one day he will return.

Three years later, Cio-Cio-San and her son, Dolore, see Pinkerton’s ship in the harbour. She excitedly awaits his visit – but when Pinkerton and his American wife Kate arrive and learn about Dolore's existence, they ask to take the boy away, and raise him in America. Cio-Cio-San bids her son farewell and takes her own life.

Strauss’ thrilling and audacious adaptation of this Greek tragedy receives a new staging by the award-winning director Christof Loy with Nina Stemme in the title role, conducted by Antonio Pappano.

Synopsis:

Klytämnestra plotted with her lover Ägisth to murder her husband King Agamemnon. Her daughter Elektra sent her brother Orest away to protect him. She is now an outcast in her mother’s home, and her unkempt appearance and repeated honouring of her dead father provoke Klytämnestra’s anger. Elektra longs only for revenge. Her sister Chrysothemis is desperate to escape from the palace. Klytämnestra is wracked with guilt and Elektra tells her it will only be assuaged by the queen’s own violent death. News comes that Orest is dead. Then a mysterious man arrives at the court.

 Elektra recognizes the man as her brother, Orest. She is overjoyed. Orest begins to take his vengeance by brutally murdering his mother. Ägisth arrives, unaware of what is happening. Orest strikes him down too. Orest is acclaimed by the court and Elektra finally performs her dance of triumph, which has its own deadly conclusion.

Humperdinck's tuneful opera based on a much-loved German fairytale is given a magical staging in Antony McDonald’s mischievous production.

Synopsis:

Siblings Hansel and Gretel neglect their chores and decide to play games instead. Their mother returns and scolds them, accidentally breaking the jug of milk needed for dinner. She sends the children off to the forest to find strawberries. When their father returns home, he is concerned the children may be in danger from a witch who lives in the forest. The children play in the wood, but become lost. They fall asleep, watched over by the creatures of the forest.

The next morning, they discover a house made of cake: it is where the Witch lives! She tricks them inside and uses magic to trap Hansel. With Gretel’s help Hansel is freed and they in turn trick the Witch, who comes to a sticky end. As the Witch's powers of enchantment are lifted, all the children trapped by the Witch are freed, and Hansel and Gretel are reunited with their parents.

Verdi's devastating masterpiece pits power against innocence in a pitiless world of luxurious decadence, corruption, and social decay.

Synopsis:

The Duke of Mantua is a serial womanizer. At a palace party, not content with the married Countess Ceprano, the Duke reveals he is also infatuated with a mysterious woman he has seen in the church.

The hunchbacked jester Rigoletto jokes that the Duke should have the Countess’s husband murdered. Count Ceprano vows to kidnap Rigoletto’s lover as punishment. Chaos descends when the elderly Count Monterone arrives and confronts the Duke for seducing his daughter – a third woman! Rigoletto takes his jesting too far, and the old man curses him.

Rigoletto’s so-called ‘lover’ is in fact his daughter, Gilda, whom he keeps under lock and key at home. She has secretly fallen in love with the Duke of Mantua, who came to her church in disguise. Gilda is kidnapped by Count Ceprano and delivered into the Duke’s clutches. Rigoletto engages an assassin to exact his revenge. But before the day is out, the old man’s curse will exert its deadly power.

The Falling and the Rising is a story of family, service, and sacrifice inside a period of great uncertainty. This operatic odyssey chronicles the imagined journey of a soldier suspended inside a medically induced coma. After sending a video message home on the eve of her daughter’s thirteenth birthday, our soldier is severely wounded by a roadside IED (Improvised Explosive Device.)  We follow as she makes her way through a miraculous coma-induced dreamscape, one punctuated with the lives of fellow service members, each on their own individual journey toward healing and home. Created in hopes of capturing the indomitable spirit of our U.S. military veterans, The Falling and the Rising sheds light on the inspirational power of their often-overlooked stories.

A rebel with a cause, the free-spirited Carmen lives boldly in her fiery pursuit of freedom. “Born free, she will die free,” Carmen sings, but sparks fly after an encounter with military officer Don José. When the smitten José leaves everything behind to be with Carmen, their passionate affair takes a sudden, dangerous turn after the charismatic bullfighter Escamillo catches Carmen’s eye. With its twisting tale of romance, intrigue and obsession set to the instantly recognizable melodies of Bizet, it’s no wonder Carmen is one of the world’s most popular and beloved operas

The Sarah and Ernest Butler Opera Center at the University of Texas, the Central Texas Philharmonic and Austin Opera unite to award over $30,000 in prize money. Awards are earned through a concert with the Central Texas Philharmonic at Bates Recital Hall on the campus of UT Austin. An international panel of judges will select the winners.

The top cash prizes in 2023 are $10,000 1st prize, $6,000  2nd prize, $4,000  3rd prize, and $2,500 for superlative vocal artistry in honor of soprano Kerry French McKechnie. In addition to the BOI competition prize monies, the Central Texas Philharmonic will invite and engage the BOI competition finalist or finalists each year to perform with the orchestra during their symphonic season.

The 2023 Voice Competition and Festival takes place May 23-26, 2023 on the campus of UT Austin.  The final concert with the Central Texas Philharmonic, where winners will be selected, is open to the public.

Conductor Dame Jane Glover DBE
Director Stephen Sposito

What happens when you’re looking for a suitable May Queen who is virginal, obedient, upstanding, AND moral but none of the teens in town match that description? You call on Albert. Yes, the grocer's son, Albert Herring. As the newly crowned May King surely nothing bad will happen…

THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, AT 7:30 PM
SATURDAY, AUGUST 6, AT 3:00 PM

Armed with a magic flute, a prince and his bird-catcher friend set off on a quest to rescue a beautiful princess. But when they encounter a fearsome dragon, the imposing Queen of the Night, and a mysterious council, they quickly realize things are not always what they seem. Mozart’s enchanting Die Zauberflöte is a delight for all ages. Performed in German with dialogue in English, and English supertitles.

The young artists of the 2022 Merola Opera Program perform an inspirational program of staged scenes from seminal works by Latin American and Spanish composers, including Manuel de Falla's La vida breve, Daniél Catán's Florencia en el Amazonas, Amadeo Vives's Doña Francisquita, and Osvaldo Golijov's Ainadamar. Performed in Spanish with English supertitles.

Music by Errollyn Wallen
Libretto by Deborah Brevoort

A story about the enduring pull of freedom – and the ends to which people will go to achieve it.

Juba Freeman arrives in London after winning his freedom from slavery by fighting for the British in the Revolutionary War. Thrown headfirst into British society, he meets Amelia Alumond, a member of the British Black gentry, and reconnects with other ex-slaves who are struggling to build new lives for themselves as free men. Inspired by historical events, the opera sheds a light on a forgotten corner of history – and challenges current assumptions of what life was like in 18th-century London for a person of color.

Saturday, April 23, 2022 @ 7:30pm
Friday, April 29, 2022 @ 7:30pm
Sunday, May 1, 2022 @ 3pm

Music & Libretto by Mark Adamo

A bratty elf Prince learns the meaning of family, love, and the true spirit of gift-giving.

In an Elven realm in the far North, Prince Claus is the son of a conflicted sorceress and a King who has vanished under mysterious circumstances. When Claus’s uncles skip his 13th birthday party to greet a newborn, the boy recruits his elves to make the most spectacular toys ever created. Will he be able to out-dazzle the child the Three Kings have been sent to greet?

Saturday, December 11, 2021 @ 7:30pm
Friday, December 17, 2021 @ 7:30pm
Sunday, December 19, 2021 @ 3pm

Music by Georges Bizét
Libretto by Henri Meilhac & Ludovic Halevy

Love triangles, jealousy, a notorious femme fatale – and some of the most enduring operatic tunes ever written.

This concert performance features superstar Jamie Barton in her hotly anticipated role debut as Carmen opposite the legendary Stephanie Blythe as her alter-ego Blythely Oratonio in a role that fits him like a glove: Don José.

Thursday, September 16, 2021 @ 7:30pm
Saturday, September 18, 2021 @ 3pm