THE BARBER OF SEVILLE by Gioachino Rossini

Sunday November 1, 2020 at 8 PM

Cincinnati Opera's 100th anniversary season opens with Rossini's charming comedy, featuring Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard as Rosina.

Cesare Sterbini, libretto
Rosina | Isabel Leonard
Count Almaviva | Aaron Blake
Figaro | Rodion Pogossov
Doctor Bartolo | Paolo Bordogna
Don Basilio | Burak Bilgili
Berta | Wendy Hill
Fiorello | Thomas Dreeze

Originally performed on June 18 & 20, 2020

RUSALKA by Antonín Dvorák

Sunday November 8, 2020 at 8 PM

For the first time in Cincinnati Opera's 100-year history, we present Dvorák’s beautiful and tragic tale of a love-struck mermaid who pins her heart and her future on a mortal Prince. Sung in the original Czech.

Jaroslav Kvapil, libretto
Rusalka | Kim-Lillian Strebel
The Prince | Adam Smith
The Spirit of the Lake | Robert Pomakov
Jezibaba | Jana Sýkorová
The Foreign Princess | Melody Moore
First Wood-Sprite | Zdislava Bocková
Second Wood-Sprite | Gabriella Sam
Gamekeeper | Jesse Donner

Originally performed on July 9 & 11, 2020

AIDA by Giuseppe Verdi

Sunday November 22, 2020 at 8 PM

The grandest of all operatic masterpieces, Verdi's Aida closes the 100th anniversary season. Aida, an Ethiopian princess enslaved by her enemy Egypt, finds herself helplessly drawn to Radamès, her captor. Caught between warring nations, she faces an impossible choice. Should she betray Radames to protect her precious homeland? Or surrender completely to love?

Antonio Ghislanzoni, libretto
Aida | Mary Elizabeth Williams
Amneris | Ronnita Miller
Radames | Marco Berti
Amonasro | Reginald Smith, Jr.
Ramphis | Morris Robinson
Priestess | Jennifer Cherest
King of Egypt | Peixin Chen
A Messenger | Jesse Donner

Originally performed on July 25-August 1, 2020