The IU Opera and Ballet Theater’s 68th season will feature five operas, three ballets and a musical spanning oft-performed classics and rarer productions.
The 2016-17 season, which the Jacobs School of Music announced in a press release Monday, begins in September at the Musical Arts Center and stretches through April 2017.
Subscriptions for the season are on sale. Single tickets will be available Aug. 22.
“The Daughter of the Regiment”
Sept. 16-17 and 23-24
Gaetano Donizetti’s 1840 opera is a love story centered on Marie, a teenage girl adopted and raised by a Napoleonic Wars-era regiment.
Fall Ballet: “As Time Goes By”
Sept. 30-Oct. 1
The fall ballet will open with choreography by George Balanchine, whose work was featured prominently in the recent spring ballet. It will also feature the world premiere of a new piece by Charlotte Ballet Associate Artistic Director Sasha Janes. The titular piece is a work by Twyla Tharp.
“Florencia en el Amazonas”
Oct. 14-15 and 21-22
This is the IU Opera Theater debut of Daniel Catan’s “Florencia en el Amazonas,” which follows a famous opera singer traveling the Amazon River by steamboat. It was the first Spanish-language opera commissioned by a consortium of major American opera companies.
“Madama Butterfly”
Oct. 4-6 and 11-12
Giacomo Puccini’s Japan-set opera classic is a new production for the IU Opera Theater. It’ll travel to Butler University’s Clowes Memorial Hall after opening weekend in Bloomington.
“The Nutcracker”
Dec. 1-4
The annual production of the Tchaikovsky-scored Christmas staple returns in December.
“Rodelinda”
Feb. 3-4 and 10-11
This opera composed by George Frideric Handel takes place over the course of a dramatic day in a palace.
“Peter Grimes”
Feb. 24-25 and March 3-4
This Benjamin Britten opera, first performed in 1945, centers on the aftermath of the death of a fisherman’s apprentice in an English village. It’s the opera’s first time in the IU Opera Theater since April 2004.
Spring Ballet: “L’amour et la mort”
March 24-25
The spring ballet again features choreography by Balanchine, with his “The Steadfast Tin Soldier” appearing on the program. Choreography by Jerome Robbins will open the program, which will also feature the second act of Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot’s “Giselle.”
“The Music Man”
April 7-9 and 14-15
Meredith Willson’s oft-adapted and -performed mid-20th century musical concerns a con man posing as a bandleader to scam an Iowa town.
Jack Evans
