Cape Town Opera Reveals 2026 Season Lineup

Cape Town Opera has announced a 2026 season that spans grand opera, new musical collaborations, family-friendly storytelling and community engagement across the city. 

Gershwin in the Park

On 15 February 2026, the company returns to the Maynardville Open Air Festival with Gershwin in the Park, a one-night celebration of the golden age of American music. Performed by some of South Africa’s finest voices including the award-winning Cape Town Opera Vocal Ensemble, the programme features iconic selections from Porgy and Bess alongside favourites from the Gershwin era, blending jazz, opera and Broadway in a setting  under the stars. CTO’s long association with Porgy and Bess has earned the company global recognition, and this concert showcases its affinity with Gershwin’s work and ability to bridge genres with astonishing versatility.

Opera in Your Neighbourhood

Community access remains a central pillar of CTO’s mission. The popular Opera in Your Neighbourhood series continues to February 2026, presented in partnership with the City of Cape Town. These free concerts take opera, musical theatre hits and African spirituals directly into community spaces across Cape Town, ensuring that audiences of all ages and backgrounds experience live performance in their own spaces. Since its launch in Mitchells Plain in 2022, the programme has reached over 2,400 people across 20 public venues, and this year expands further with performances at three community centres and during the Bree Street Open Streets event. The repertoire sung by the  Vocal Ensemble is shaped to spark joy and connection, a reminder that opera belongs everywhere, not only in traditional theatres.

Opera Blocks

For the youngest audiences, Opera Blocks, from 23–28 March, is a gentle, ground-breaking approach that nurtures the next generation of theatre-goers, while also accommodating their parents. Entitled ‘Under the Sea’, this immersive, sensory-rich experience welcomes babies and toddlers aged 0–5 into a relaxed performance environment, where they are free to move, explore and respond as they wish. Set within intimate creative spaces of various venues, and performed by CTO's Judith Neilson Young Artists and Vocal Ensemble members, the show combines storytelling, movement, interactive lighting and recognisable melodies. Designed in consultation with child development specialists, Opera Blocks is the perfect entrée to classical vocal music through play, texture and imagination. 

Haydn’s Nelson Mass

Saturday 4 April sees the company present Haydn’s Nelson Mass at the historic Toringkerk in Paarl, a soaring concert work in collaboration with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, composed amid the turbulence of Napoleon’s campaigns. Known for its dramatic opening Kyrie and jubilant trumpet and timpani flourishes, the Nelson Mass remains one of Haydn’s most celebrated liturgical pieces, a musical testament to resilience, renewal and spiritual magnificence. 

Bizet’s Carmen

In May, Cape Town Opera returns to grand opera at scale with Bizet’s Carmen at the Artscape Opera House, running 19–31 May, with dedicated Access performances on 28 and 30 May. Bizet’s irresistible score and its fiercely independent heroine continue to captivate audiences nearly 150 years after its controversial premiere. Set in vibrant Seville, the opera traces the doomed entanglement between Carmen and Don José, unfolding through jealousy, desire and fate against the backdrop of bullfighting spectacle. Since its triumphant revival in Vienna after Bizet’s death, Carmen has become one of the world’s most frequently performed operas, bridging opéra comique and the realism that reshaped European theatre.

A Little Night Music

New directions follow in winter with Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music at Theatre on the Bay, running 30 June – 12 July. Set in Sweden in 1900 and inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s film Smiles of a Summer Night, the musical uses the waltz as its heartbeat as romance unravels over a single midsummer weekend. With sophistication, wit and emotional finesse, and featuring the beloved song Send in the Clowns, the production offers a sparkling contrast to the season’s operatic intensity.

The Cunning Little Vixen

From 21–26 July, families will delight in a new English-language adaptation of Janá?ek’s The Cunning Little Vixen at the Joseph Stone Auditorium, celebrating the cycle of life through the adventures of the mischievous Vixen Sharp-Ears. Reimagined for Cape Town Opera by Alan Olejniczak, the work places nature, imagination and renewal at its centre, culminating in a message of hope and continuity.

Roméo et Juliette

Cape Town Opera presents Roméo et Juliette at Artscape on 18 to 29 October. The tragic tale of star-crossed lovers has inspired countless works of literature and art across cultures, becoming an archetype of love and fate. Shakespeare’s version remains the most familiar, and for his ninth opera, French composer Charles Gounod found the perfect dramatic vehicle. Gounod, one of the most influential French composers of the late nineteenth century, is celebrated for his lyrical charm, refined orchestration, and elegant taste. Yet it is his mastery of theatrical storytelling - setting scenes, building tension, and guiding the drama to its tragic conclusion - that makes Roméo et Juliette especially unforgettable.