PAGLIACCI and More Set for San Diego Opera 2025-26 Season

On the heels of a landmark 60th anniversary season, San Diego Opera has unveiled the lineup for its 61st season. With an exciting variety of productions and a slate of stellar talent, San Diego Opera continues elevating the community’s arts and culture landscape with outstanding opera and vocal performances.

San Diego Opera’s 2025–2026 season opens with Ruggero Leoncavallo’s tragic tale of love and betrayal, Pagliacci, running October 31–November 2. The season continues with Gioachino Rossini’s hilarious comedy The Barber of Seville from February 13–15, 2026, followed by Georges Bizet’s iconic tragedy Carmen from March 27–29. Each production will be accompanied by the renowned San Diego Symphony Orchestra.

Pagliacci

Oct. 31 – Nov. 2, 2025
San Diego Civic Theatre
Ruggero Leoncavallo – Music and libretto
Yves Abel – Conductor
Christopher Mattaliano – Director
Jonathan Burton – Canio
Hailey Clark – Nedda
Kidon Choi – Tonio

The tears of a clown can be deadly. Canio is a comic actor in a troupe of street performers touring the Italian countryside. He also has a hair-trigger temper, and there are whispers that his gorgeous wife Nedda might be cheating on him. Leoncavallo’s masterful score includes arias like “Stridono lassù” and one of the most famous tenor arias of all time, the iconic and heartbreaking “Vesti la giubba.”

Sung in Italian with projected translations in English and Spanish.

The Barber of Seville

Feb. 13–15, 2026
San Diego Civic Theatre
Gioachino Rossini – Music
Cesare Sterbini – Libretto
Yves Abel – Conductor
Chuck Hudson – Director
Dean Murphy – Figaro
Minghao Liu – Count Almaviva
Stephanie Doche – Rosina
Patrick Carfizzi – Bartolo
Craig Colclough – Don Basilio

Rossini’s hilarious prequel to Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro was considered a must-see long before Bugs Bunny brought its frenetic overture to an even larger audience. Count Almaviva is in love with the beautiful Rosina, but how can he get past her paranoid and greedy guardian, Dr. Bartolo? Enter the charismatic, quick-witted barber Figaro, who will stop at nothing to play matchmaker for his lovesick friend. Filled with side-splitting hijinks, mistaken identities, and some of the most popular opera music ever written, this Barber will have you rolling in the aisles before you leave humming Rossini’s infectious tunes.

Sung in Italian with projected translations in English and Spanish.

Carmen

March 27–29, 2026
San Diego Civic Theatre
Georges Bizet – Music
Ludovic Halévy and Henri Meilhac – Libretto
Louis Lohraseb – Conductor
Melody Wilson – Carmen (Fri & Sun)
Guadalupe Paz – Carmen (Sat)
Thomas Kinch – Don José (Fri & Sun)
Jonathan Kaufman – Don José (Sat)
Aleksey Bogdanov – Escamillo
Lydia Grindatto – Micaëla

The most fearless and indomitable heroine in all opera is back! When Carmen tosses a flower to the soldier Don José, he becomes obsessed, leaving his post to join her band of smugglers. But when she loses interest and sets her sights on a bullfighter, Don José may not be able to handle the rejection. With a score packed with opera classics, including “Habanera,” “The Toreador Song,” and one of the greatest overtures ever written, you’ll be joining Don José as you fall under the spell of Carmen.

Sung in French with projected translations in English and Spanish.