The Detroit Opera’s upcoming 2024–25 Opera and Dance seasons kicks off Oct. 19, and will feature four opera productions and six dance presentations, starting with a performance of Verdi’s “La traviata” at the Detroit Opera House, directed by Francesca Zambello and conducted by Roberto Kalb.
The dance season will begin on Nov. 2 with the Mark Morris Dance Group performing “The Look of Love,” an homage to Burt Bacharach with musical collaborator Ethan Iverson.
The William Davidson Foundation is Detroit Opera’s 2024–25 season sponsor.
The 2024–25 opera season will feature four operas written over three centuries: Handel’s “Rinaldo” and Mozart’s “Così fan tutte” from the 1700s, Verdi’s 1853 masterwork “La Traviata,” and Anthony Davis’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Central Park Five” from 2020.
The season will feature major house debuts by directors Francesca Zambello, Louisa Proske, and Nataki Garrett, as well as by German conductor Corinna Niemeyer and American conductor Anthony Parnther.
“One of Detroit Opera’s central missions is to engage people with the relevant issues of our time,” says Patty Isacson Sabee, president and CEO of the Detroit Opera. “We’ll present the world premiere of Yuval Sharon’s futuristic new production of Mozart’s ‘Così fan tutte,’ which could not be more timely as we ponder the role of artificial intelligence in today’s world.”
Detroit Opera’s season-opening production of La traviata (Oct. 19–27) will feature two rising singers making their Detroit Opera debuts — soprano Emily Pogorelc as Violetta and tenor Galeano Salas as Alfredo — and baritone Rod Gilfry in a role debut as Germont.
Handel’s “Rinaldo” (Feb. 22–March 2, 2025) will be only the third Handel opera to be produced at Detroit Opera, following Giulio Cesare in 2012 and Xerxes in 2023. Rinaldo will feature in the title role Anthony Roth Costanzo.
The cast will include Cuban American soprano Elena Villalón as Almirena and, as Armida, soprano Nicole Heaston, praised by the New York Times for her “radiant” and “handsomely resonant voice.”
Yuval Sharon’s new production of “Così fan tutte” (April 5-13, 2025) is a futuristic take on Mozart’s dark comedy about human relationships — an exploration of artificial intelligence, with Don Alfonso’s “school for lovers” recast as a laboratory where the four lovers are his robotic inventions, created with the support of Despina.
“This new take on Mozart’s most controversial comedy will be an exploration of artificial intelligence,” says Sharon. “With a resolutely futuristic look, the comedy of Così will emerge in a surprisingly organic way. The production explores the connection between the Enlightenment-era belief of ‘humans as machines,’ the origin for contemporary explorations of what current thinkers are imagining as the ‘post-human,’ or ‘Humanity 2.0.’ As anxieties proliferate about AI, this production offers the opportunity for reflection on this phenomenon in a way that only opera can.”
The 2024–25 opera season will conclude with Anthony Davis’s “The Central Park Five” (May 10-18, 2025), a true-story adaptation of systemic discrimination that earned Davis the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2020. The opera, with a libretto by Richard Wesley, tells the story of the wrongful convictions of five African American and Latino men in the assault of a white female jogger in Central Park.
The 2024–25 dance season begins on Nov. 2–3. The Mark Morris Dance Group be the first of six dance companies to perform at the Detroit Opera House through April 2025. The season will also feature Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo (Nov. 23–24), Complexions Contemporary Ballet (Dec. 7-8), Twyla Tharp Dance (Feb. 1-2, 2025), Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (March 14-16, 2025), and Malandain Ballet Biarritz (April 26-27, 2025).
“The new season of dance at the opera house is both serious and fun, robust and eclectic, purposely reflecting no singular aesthetic,” says Jon Teeuwissen, artistic advisor for dance at the Detroit Opera. “What all six companies have in common is quality, creativity, and innovation. The season includes some of the world’s foremost choreographers, but as dancers know, it’s not always about the steps — it’s about what the dance makes you feel, and where you are going in your head and in your heart.”
Subscription packages starting at $100 are available now for purchase at detroitopera.org. The purchase of a subscription package includes priority seating, easy and free ticket exchanges, savings of up to 35 percent on tickets, exclusive access to pre-paid parking in the Opera House Parking Center, and additional perks. Visit the website or call 313-237-7464 for more details.
