opera

It’s a nearly impossible story: In the mid-1700s, Joseph Bologne, the illegitimate son of an African enslaved woman and a French plantation owner, became a brilliant composer known by the moniker Chevalier de Saint-Georges. This month, Boston audiences can experience the fruit of this musical talent’s labor in “The Anonymous Lover,” a romantic comedy opera helmed by a diverse creative team with Boston Lyric Opera.

Mary Cardwell Dawson may have barely reached five feet in a pair of heels, but she was a force to be reckoned with.

Who doesn’t know the story of Cinderella, the unloved stepdaughter used by her relatives as their maid until by magical intervention she finds true love with a prince? In the new Boston Lyric Opera production of “La Cenerentola,” Italian for Cinderella, kindness and wisdom, instead of a glass slipper, guide the heroine to her prince.

A dark and moving slice of America’s past comes to life on stage in “Omar,” created by Grammy Award-winning musician Rhiannon Giddens and acclaimed film, television and classical music composer Michael Abels and performed by the Boston Lyric Opera.

The world premiere recording of the revised version of “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X,” was released in October by BMOP/Sound. Recorded at Dorchester’s Strand Theatre, where the opera was performed for one night only on June 17, the album has been nominated for a 2023 Grammy Award. 

One of the Western canon’s most famous romances, and tragedies, “Romeo and Juliet” takes the stage on Boston Common August 11 and 13. The free, public performances produced by Boston Lyric Opera in partnership with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (CSC) and the City of Boston aim to bring the city together under the stars to celebrate the art of drama.

This month, the Boston Lyric Opera returns to the stage for its first full performance in a theater since 2019. And they’re coming back with a bang: “Champion: An Opera in Jazz” celebrates the legacy of six-time world champion prizefighter Emile Griffith.

Audiences will gather live at ArtsEmerson for the first time after a 20-month pandemic hiatus to see the world premiere of “Iphigenia.” Composer Wayne Shorter and librettist esperanza spalding have reimagined the myth with a powerful score and a new perspective on one of the sacrificial daughters of Greek lore.

Unfolding with primal power, “Fire Shut Up in My Bones,” the opera by multi-Grammy Award winning jazz trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard, seizes the audience from the start and never lets go.

Boston Lyric Opera returns to the stage with “Cavalleria Rusticana,” playing Oct. 1 and 3 at the large outdoor Leader Bank Pavilion.

On June 3, the Boston Lyric Opera debuts “Desert In,” a groundbreaking eight-part miniseries set in a mysterious motel where desperate individuals search for lost loved ones. Created by an extremely diverse and dynamic team, “Desert In” creates a new genre of performance that’s part film, part music video, part opera and part heart-wrenching human experience.

In the wake of the murder of George Floyd last May, Cerise Jacobs and her activist opera company White Snake Projects knew they wanted to contribute to the Black Lives Matter cause in a more significant way than a solidarity press release. And so they created “Death by Life,” a virtual opera delving into the stories of prisoners impacted by mass incarceration and the victimization of Black and brown people.