Opera San José Unveils 24-25 Season Featuring a Local Premiere & More

Opera San José has revealed the programming for the company’s 41st season, which will include a regional premiere, operatic favorites, and the second Spanish language opera on its mainstage. The 2024-2025 season will feature four productions, presented September 14, 2024 through May 4, 2025 at the majestic California Theatre in downtown San José.  

“We will be offering a season of thrilling works that not only seasoned opera lovers will enjoy but will also entice new operagoers to experience this fabulous art form,” said Lucey. “These operas embody our mission at Opera San José, where we specialize in role debuts, serve as an artistic incubator for established and emerging artists, and produce world-class operatic performances that celebrate our diverse community.”   

The 2024-2025 season launches with prodigy composer/conductor Alma Deutscher coming back to OSJ to conduct a family-friendly production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Magic Flute (Sept. 14-29, 2024). Next up is Giacomo Puccini’s La bohème reset in post-WWI Paris, (Nov. 16-Dec. 1, 2024) marking the mainstage directorial debut for OSJ Resident Stage Director Michelle Ainna Cuizon. In 2025, Opera San José General Director/CEO Shawna Lucey will direct Béla Bartók’s spine-chilling one-act opera Bluebeard’s Castle (Feb. 15-Mar. 2, 2025) featuring OSJ Emeritus Artist-in-Residence soprano Maria Natale — returning after her recent triumphant appearances at OSJ as Tosca and The Countess in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro — in the role of the unsuspecting new bride Judith and bass-baritone Jason Zacher as Duke Bluebeard. The season will conclude with the Northern California premiere of Héctor Armienta’s Zorro (Apr. 19-May 4, 2025), a swashbuckling opera full of romance, humor, and suspense directed by Latino stage director David Radamés Toro. Zorro will be presented in collaboration with Kentucky Opera.  

For more information or to purchase subscriptions ($155–$650) the public can visit operasj.org or call 408-437-4450 (open Monday through Friday, 9:00am–5:00pm). Subscriptions are on sale now; single tickets will go on sale on July 1, 2024. 
 
2024–2025 SEASON 

THE MAGIC FLUTE 

Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder 
September 14-29, 2024 
Sung in German, English/Spanish supertitles 
 
Launching the company’s 41st season is a family-friendly production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Alma Deutscher — composer/conductor of OSJ’s recent hit production of Cinderella — reunites with director Brad Dalton and returns to conduct this whimsical opera. In this fanciful work, audiences of all ages follow the fairytale story of handsome young prince Tamino and silly bird-catcher Papageno, who set out to free the clever princess Pamina. Equipped with a set of magical musical instruments, these two new friends face a vengeful Queen of the Night, a world of sorcerers and serpents, spirits and secrets, and more that will test their loyalty, love, and persistence.  
 
Casting includes baritone Ricardo José Rivera, who delighted audiences with his portrayal of Figaro in this season’s production of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, returning as Papageno; tenor WooYoung Yoon as Tamino; OSJ’s inaugural Wadhwani Chair for South Asian Artists soprano Melissa Sondhi as Pamina; soprano Nicole Koh as Papagena; and soprano Emily Misch as the Queen of the Night. Joining them are tenor Nicolas Vasquez-Gerst as Monostatos and bass Younggwang Park as Sarastro. 
 

LA BOHÈME 

Music by Giacomo Puccini, libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa 
based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger 
November 16 – December 1, 2024 
Sung in Italian, English/Spanish supertitles 
 
One of opera’s greatest love stories, Puccini’s La bohème, returns to Opera San José in a production set in Paris at Christmastime in the aftermath of the Great War. In this tantalizing tale of young artists living on the edge, poet Rodolfo is implored by his alluring and delicate neighbor Mimi to help light her last candle. Immediately infatuated, they embark on a dizzying relationship which ultimately turns tragic. From bustling cafés and raucous parties to spirited debates, this couple along with their artist friends chase happiness against impossible odds. Opera San José Resident Stage Director Michelle Ainna Cuizon will make her mainstage directorial debut and Opera San José Music Director Joseph Marcheso is set to conduct this masterpiece.  
 
Casting includes tenor WooYoung Yoon as Rodolfo and baritone Kidon Choi, who thrilled OSJ audiences as Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca, returning as Marcello. Also featured are sopranos Kearstin Piper Brown and Mikayla Sager as Mimi, and OSJ’s inaugural Wadhwani Chair for South Asian Artists soprano Melissa Sondhi as Musetta. Additional casting includes bass-baritone Jesús Vicente Murillo as Shaunard and bass-baritone Jason Zacher as Colline. 
 

BLUEBEARD’S CASTLE 

Music by Béla Bartók, libretto by Béla Balázs 
February 15-March 2, 2025 
Sung in English, English/Spanish supertitles 
 
The season continues with an all-new production of Béla Bartók’s chilling one-act opera Bluebeard’s Castle, directed by OSJ General Director/CEO Shawna Lucey and conducted by Opera San José Music Director Joseph Marcheso. This powerful work will feature OSJ Emeritus Artist-in-Residence soprano Maria Natale, returning after acclaimed portrayals in the 22-23 OSJ season as Tosca and The Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, as the unwitting bride Judith who comes to live in the haunted realm of a mysterious Duke. Bass-baritone Jason Zacher will portray Duke Bluebeard. This psychological thriller follows a woman discovering her new husband’s dark past, unlocking rooms in his eerie home as she delves into the frightening corners of her husband’s terrifyingly troubled imagination.  
 

ZORRO 

Music and libretto by Héctor Armienta 
Presented in collaboration with Kentucky Opera 
April 19-May 4, 2025 
Sung in Spanish, English/Spanish supertitles 
 
Opera San José will conclude its 41st season with the Northern California premiere of Héctor Armienta’s Zorro, the second Spanish-language opera on its mainstage following the 2024 production of Florencia en el Amazonas. Inspired by the heroic masked vigilante created by Johnston McCulley, this swashbuckling opera is filled with ravishing romance, light-hearted humor, and sword-fighting suspense. Set in el pueblo de Los Angeles, still a colony of Spain, it follows the adventures of Diego de la Vega, a Spanish nobleman who hides his true identity to become the masked vigilante Zorro, the dashing defender of the less fortunate. With a lush score influenced by mariachi, flamenco, and corrido music, the caped crusader comes to operatic life, battling tyranny and corruption, juggling romantic interests of the beguiling daughter of the Governor, Carlotta de Obragón, and the brave and kind Ana María Soza, and taking on his nemesis, the oppressive General Moncada. Latino stage director David Radamés Toro will make his OSJ debut.  
 
Announced casting includes soprano Arianna Rodriguez as Luisa, mezzo-soprano Guadalupe Paz — who will return to OSJ following her company debut as Paula in OSJ’s Florencia en el Amazonas — as Carlotta de Obragón, and soprano Maria Brea as Ana María Soza. OSJ Emeritus Artist-in-Residence baritone Eugene Brancoveanu — who won critical acclaim as the title role in this season’s Rigoletto — returns as Octavio Rivera y Moncada, with mezzo-soprano Raphaella Medina as Toypurina, and bass-baritone Jesús Vicente Murillo as Sargeant Jose Maria Gomez. Additional casting to be announced. 
 

Photo credit: Bob Shomler 

Test and expand your Broadway knowledge with our new game - The Broadway Match-Up! How well do you know your Broadway casting trivia?	Play the Daily Game, explore current shows, and delve into past decades like the 2000s, 80s, and the Golden Age. Challenge your friends and see where you rank!
How well do you know your Tony Awards history? Take our never-ending quiz of nominations and winner history and challenge your friends.	Can you beat your friends? Play today’s daily Broadway word game, featuring a new theatrically inspired word or phrase every day!