The last time the Santa Fe Opera mounted Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, audience members donned masks and some watched via simulcast. It was the summer of 2021 and COVID-19 restrictions and visa regulations required French director Laurent Pelly to oversee the production remotely (we quite enjoyed it). The opera will revive the production for its 68th festival season in the summer of 2025, announced earlier today.
In total, next summer will include 38 performances that will also feature a new production of Puccini’s La bohème, directed by James Robinson, that will share the opening weekend June 27 with The Marriage of Figaro.
Starting July 12, SFO will present a new production of Verdi’s Rigoletto by Julien Chavaz in an international co-production with Irish National Opera and Opera Zuid. Britten’s The Turn of the Screw opens July 19 staged by Louisa Muller in a Canadian Opera Company production that originated at Garsington Opera; and Wagner’s Die Walküre, presented by the SFO for the first time in a new production by director Melly Still, opens July 26. The season runs through Aug. 23 and will also include Apprentice Scenes Aug. 10 and Aug. 17, along preview dinners and tours, and the company’s free prelude talks.
“Now more than ever people are seeking new and immersive experiences,” General Director Robert K Meya says in a statement announcing the 2025 season. “A night at the Santa Fe Opera offers first-time visitors and longtime patrons just that.”
The 2024 season opens June 28 with Verdi’s La Traviata. This season’s lineup also includes: Mozart’s Don Giovanni; the world-premiere of Gregory Spears’ The Righteous; Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier; and Gaetano Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love.