PAST PERFORMANCES

2023-24 Season

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Mar 2 – 10, 2024

Composer: Benjamin Britten
Librettists: Benjamin Britten & Peter Pears
Based on the play by: William Shakespeare

Mystical figures dance in the night as Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream comes to the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. This adaptation of celebrated playwright William Shakespeare’s work follows the consequences of a falling out between Oberon and Tytania, the fairy-king and queen.

Performed in English with English Supertitles

La bohème

Jan 20 – 28, 2024

Composer: Giacomo Puccini
Librettists: Luigi Illica & Giuseppe Giacosa

Giacomo Puccini’s transcendent masterpiece La bohème captures the essence of love, loss, and life. This tragic story of four friends clinging to each other as harsh realities of life threaten to tear them apart has been told time and again – now, discover its origin as one of the greatest operas ever written. 

Performed in Italian with English Supertitles

photos: Raftermen 

Rigoletto

Nov 4 – 12, 2023

Composer & Librettist: Giuseppe Verdi
Based on “Le roi s’amuse” by Victor Hugo

A lecherous playboy. A vengeful father. A tragic love affair. Giuseppe Verdi’s definitive tragic opera comes to Atlanta as a co-production with the Houston Grand Opera and the Dallas Opera. Rigoletto will discover the true consequences of his words will have an indelible impact on that which he holds most dear.

Performed in Italian with English Supertitles

photos: Raftermen

Frankenstein

Composer: Michael Shapiro
Oct 28, 2023

A fantastical collision of sight and sound awaits in this imaginative presentation of vintage cinema. The 1931 film of Mary Shelley’s classic novel “Frankenstein” is given a lush and vibrant score composed by Michael Shapiro and presented by The Atlanta Opera orchestra and an intimate collection of voices for an entertaining evening at the theater.

Performed in English

photos: Raftermen

The Shining

Music: Paul Moravec
Libretto: Mark Campbell
Based on the novel by: Stephen King
Sept 15 – Oct 1, 2023

The Atlanta Opera makes its long-awaited return to the Alliance Theatre as Stephen King’s iconic 1977 thriller comes to the stage in this supernatural tale of possession and murder. Jack Torrance, a father with a troubled past, finds new employment as the winter caretaker for the Overlook Hotel

Performed in English

2022-23 Season

Das Rheingold

Apr 29 – May 7, 2023

Composer & Librettist: Richard Wagner

Desire for a coveted ring begins a mammoth adventure to Valhalla. Gods, dwarves, giants, river nymphs, and dragons scheme and dream of power in Das Rheingold, the influential masterpiece by Richard Wagner that echoes in our popular culture today. 

Performed in German with English Supertitles

photos: Ken Howard

The Anonymous Lover

Composer: Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges
Librettist: François-Georges Fouques Deshayes, Desfontaines
Mar 31 – Apr 2, 2023

Written in 1780 by the groundbreaking Black composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges. A beautiful young widow begins receiving love letters from an anonymous source in this timeless comic love story. True love is this anonymous lover’s goal, but time will tell if he finds his love requited.

Performed in French with English Supertitles

Ray Charles Performing Arts Center at Morehouse College

photos: Raftermen

Candide

Music: Leonard Bernstein
Lyrics: Richard Wilbur, John Latouche, Dorothy Parker, Lillian Hellman, Stephen Sondheim, & Leonard Bernstein
Book: Lillian Hellman & Hugh Wheeler
Mar 4 – 12, 2023

The innocent Candide discovers that human beings aren’t all they are cracked up to be and ultimately focuses on building his own life on his own terms. Featuring modern classics “Glitter and Be Gay,” “Make our Garden Grow,” and a rip-roaring Overture for the ages, Candide makes its company debut in Atlanta. 

Performed in English with English Supertitles

photos: Raftermen

Don Giovanni

Composer:  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Librettist: Lorenzo Da Ponte
Jan 21 – 29, 2023

The murderous Don Giovanni deceives women with impunity, leaving destruction in his wake. This Don Juan is not just a rakish cad but someone much more sinister. Mozart and Da Ponte’s masterwork explores vengeance and unsatiable desire. Glamour, grit, and the glow of neon infuse this film noir production.

Performed in Italian with English Supertitles

Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

photos: Raftermen

Madama Butterfly

Composer: Giacomo Puccini
Librettist:  Luigi Illica & Giuseppe Giacosa
Nov 5 – 13, 2022

Cultures collide when an American naval officer stationed in Nagasaki decides to take a Japanese wife. Cio-Cio-San dreams of her new life with the handsome young officer. Renouncing her culture and her family to become a proper American wife, she waits for his ship to return. 

Performed in Italian with English Supertitles

Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

Presented in partnership with The Japan American Society of Georgia

photos: Ken Howard

Bluebeard’s Castle

Composer: Béla Bartók
Librettist: Béla Balázs
Oct 7 – 9, 2022

Bartok’s riveting one-act opera is given new life in this production from England’s Theater of Sound. In a departure from the original folktale, a husband and wife deal with the implications of dementia. Instead of doors masking Bluebeard’s true soul, the audience encounters Judith’s fraught relationship with her memories and its effect on her husband.

Performed in English with English Supertitles

Morgan Hall at the Dr. Bobbie Bailey & Family Performance Center at Kennesaw State University

photos: Raftermen

2021-22 Season

Cabaret

Book by Joe Masteroff
Based on the play by John Van Druten
and Stories by Christopher Isherwood
Music by John Kander & Lyrics by Fred Ebb

Originally Co-directed and Choreographed by Rob Marshall Originally Directed by Sam Mendes

Come As You Are Festival – June 2, 3, 5, 10, 12(M), 16, 17, & 19(M), 2022

Willkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome! The Discoveries series returns with Kander and Ebb’s Tony Award-winning musical set in 1930s Berlin. Cabaret star Sally Bowles headlines at the seedy Kit Kat Klub, where an entourage of colorful characters entertains and seduces guests looking for refuge, solace, and acceptance against the ominous threat of fascism. When a wholesome American novelist falls for Sally, he tries to convince her to leave the cabaret behind–but in Berlin she’s free…as free as she’ll ever be.

photos: Ken Howard & Raftermen

As One

Music & Concept: Laura Kaminsky
Libretto: Mark Campbell & Kimberly Reed
Film: Kimberly Reed
Come As You Are Festival – June 9 & 11(M), 2022

As One is the chamber opera everyone’s talking about. Poignant, comedic, and uplifting, the show weaves the coming-of-age story of Hannah, a transgender woman, into the universal struggle to live your own truth. Presented in an intimate performance space and scored for two singers and string quartet, As One delivers a potent reflection on modern life through stunning words and music from award winners Laura Kaminsky, Mark Campbell, and Kimberly Reed.

photos: Raftermen

The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs

Composer: Mason Bates
Librettist: Mark Campbell
April 30, May 3, 6, 8, 2022

Apple Computer founder Steve Jobs, one of the most influential people of the modern age, is transformed into a dramatic character in this compelling 2017 opera by DJ and composer Mason Bates and librettist Mark Campbell. As the character Jobs looks back on a life dappled by dizzying heights and crushing disappointments, this charismatic, hard-driving visionary confronts the complexities of life and death. Cast in an appealing electro-acoustic soundscape generated by Mac laptop (of course) and live musicians, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs cyles through key moments in his lifelong–and futile–pursuit of perfection and control over everything that matters to him.

Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

photos: Ken Howard

The Barber of Seville

Composer: Gioachino Rossini
Librettist: Cesare Sterbini
March 5, 8, 11, 13, 2022

“Figaro! Figaro! Figaro!”

Everyone’s favorite barber pulls all the levers in this comedic romp featuring a fiery young girl, her lecherous old guardian, and a smitten young nobleman. It’s all up to the wily Figaro to stay one step ahead of the shenanigans, and see to it that true love wins in the end. From the famous overture to its rapid-fire vocalism, this laugh-out-loud opera is a winner that works its charms on people of all ages.

Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

photos: Raftermen

The Pirates of Penzance

Composer: Arthur Sullivan
Librettist: William S. Gilbert
January 22, 25, 28, 30, 2022

As Frederic enters the rank of full pirate at the end of his apprenticeship, he and his fellow pirates court the daughters of Major-General Stanley. This sets off a hilarious course of riotous events that pit Frederic against his pirate clan. The Pirates of Penzance is a rollicking show featuring famous tunes, including the “Major-General’s Song,” “Oh, Better Far to Live and Die,” and “With Cat-Like Tread.”

Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

photos: Raftermen

Julius Caesar

Composer: George Frideric Handel
Librettist: Nicola Francesco Haym
Premiere Date: February 20, 1724, King’s Theatre, London

The love affair between Julius Caesar and Cleopatra is given a Baroque flourish in Handel’s masterful work. Loosely based on events during the Roman Civil War around 48 B.C., Caesar arrives in Egypt in pursuit of his enemy, only to fall in love with the beguiling queen–what plays out is an episode of Game of Thrones, in which blood, lust, and the pursuit of power both torments and unites.

Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

photos: Ken Howard

2020-21 Big Tent Series

The Threepenny Carmen

Music: Georges Bizet
Libretto: Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy
Adaptation: Jorge Parodi and Tomer Zvulun
Additional Text: Tom Key
Premiere Date: March 3, 1875: Opéra-Comique, Paris

Set at the fringes of society, Bizet’s music is intertwined with the dramatic stomps and flourishes of flamenco in an all-new version that explores a modern Carmen.The Threepenny Carmen walks a thin line between lust and death in one of opera’s most iconic love triangles.

Performed in French with English supertitles

photos: Ken Howard

The Threepenny Opera

By Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht in collaboration with Elisabeth Hauptmann
Premiere Date: August 31, 1928: Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, Berlin

In this production of The Threepenny Opera, an army of puppets are led by their live doppelgängers. Classic tunes including “Mack the Knife,” “Pirate Jenny” and ballads for broken relationships, struggle, love, life and death are the heart of the story.

Performed in English with English supertitles

photos: Ken Howard

Pagliacci

Music: Ruggero Leoncavallo
Libretto: Ruggero Leoncavallo
Premiere Date: May 21, 1892, Teatro Dal Verme, Milan

In this completely new fall production of Leoncavallo’s verismo classic, audiences enter a dystopian world where artists question their ability to perform, distance separates loved ones, and a play-within-a-play exposes a great betrayal.

Performed in Italian with English supertitles

The Kaiser of Atlantis

Music: Viktor Ullmann
Libretto: Peter Kien
Premiere Date: December 16, 1975, De Nederlandse Opera, Amsterdam

Viktor Ullmann’s now critically acclaimed chamber opera The Kaiser of Atlantis was written in 1943 in the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Before his death at Auschwitz, Ullmann gave the score to a colleague, and the opera remained unperformed until 1975.

Performed in German with English supertitles

2019-20 Season

Porgy and Bess

Music: George Gershwin
Libretto: DuBose and Dorothy Heyward and Ira Gershwin
Premiere Date: Sept 30, 1935, Colonial Theatre, Boston

From the extraordinary writing duo of George and Ira Gershwin comes a Depression-era masterpiece rich in timeless tunes, including “Summertime,” “I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin,” “It Ain’t Necessarily So,” and “Bess, You Is My Woman Now.” Considered the great American opera, Porgy and Bess was inspired by Charleston’s Cabbage Row, a 1920s community bound by faith, tears, music, and laughter. In a tender love story, Porgy and Bess seek harmony in the face of addiction and social injustice.

Scenery produced by The Glimmerglass Festival; Costumes by The Glimmerglass Festival and Washington National Opera

Performed in English with English supertitles

Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

photos: Raftermen

Salome

Composer: Richard Strauss
Librettist: Hedwig Lachmann’s translation of Oscar Wilde’s drama, adapted by the composer
Premiere Date: Dec 9, 1905, Königliches Opernhaus, Dresden

A psychological thriller draped in lust, incest, power, and seduction, Salome is the twisted tale of a depraved tyrant, his bewitching stepdaughter, and her unholy infatuation with John the Baptist. First transported from Mark’s Gospel to the world’s stage by Oscar Wilde, the opera Salome scandalized the music world into the 1930s, and continues to captivate with its sublimely rich musical tapestries.

Performed in German with English supertitles

Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

photos: Raftermen

La Cenerentola

Composer: Gioachino Rossini
Librettist: Jacopo Ferretti
Premiere Date: Jan 25, 1817, Teatro Valle, Rome

Two despicable stepsisters, a narcissistic buffoon, and some high-speed vocal acrobatics spell hilarity for Rossini’s take on a beloved fairytale. In La Cenerentola, the good-hearted Cinderella casts off the helpless damsel-in-distress persona to hold the original Mean Girls at bay. She’s not afraid to pursue her beloved (who she thinks is the Prince’s valet), only she’s finding that nothing at the royal palace is what it seems to be.

A co-production of Houston Grand Opera, Welsh National Opera, Liceu Opera Barcelona, and Grand Théâtre de Genève

Performed in Italian with English supertitles

Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

photos: Raftermen

Frida

Music: Robert Xavier Rodríguez
Book: Hilary Blecher
Lyrics and monologues: Migdalia Cruz
Oct 5 – 13, 2019

“…an exciting, long overdue musical biography…raw, wonderfully dangerous theater.” —USA Today

A fantastical theater piece combining pantomime, puppetry, movement, and vocal performers, Frida enlists mariachi instruments to heat up this blend of tango, zarzuela, ragtime, 1930s jazz, and vaudeville. The story conjures a vivid portrait of the courageous revolutionary and magical realist Frida Kahlo as she struggles with her torrid marriage to Mexican muralist Diego Rivera.

Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center at City Springs

photos: Raftermen

2018-19 Season

La traviata

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Librettist: Francesco Maria Piave
Apr 28 – May 5, 2019

A love story as old as time.

It has been told and retold over and over, in movies (Pretty Woman) and books (La Dame aux Camélias) and musicals (Moulin Rouge), but no one tells the story quite like Verdi – with a sumptuous setting and sweeping music. Violetta, a young and beautiful courtesan, falls in love with the equally young and beautiful Alfredo. Love, however, can be deadly to a woman in her position.

The Atlanta Opera mainstage season closes with this classic story of love and loss – a gorgeous interpretation of one of the most well-known and well-loved operas in the repertoire.

Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

photos: Nunnally Rawson

Maria de Buenos Aires

Music: Astor Piazzolla
Lyrics: Horacio Ferrer
Mar 28 – Apr 7, 2019

Back by popular demand!

The magic returns this season with an encore performance of Astor Piazzolla’s tango opera Maria de Buenos Aires. This sensual and seductive piece, the story of a tango-obsessed prostitute born on a day “when God was drunk,” will knock you over with its powerful storytelling and singing.

Once again, Le Maison Rouge tranforms into a sensual tango club, putting you in the middle of the story.

Le Maison Rouge at Paris on Ponce

photos: Jeff Roffman

Eugene Onegin

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Mar 2 – 10, 2019

Everyone has regrets, or those “what if” moments. How different would life be had you chosen another path, the road not taken?

Tchaikovsky explores this theme of love lost, found, and the one that got away in the lush, romantic, and beautifully Russian opera Eugene Onegin. This new production takes its cues from the poet Robert Frost and the musical language of Pushkin’s novel, telling the story of a brash young man who makes bold statements and bolder mistakes, only to find that perhaps happiness was in front of him the whole time.

 Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

photos: Jeff Roffman

Dead Man Walking

Music: Jake Heggie
Libretto: Terrence McNally
Based on the book by Sister Helen Prejean
Feb 2 – 10, 2019

He’s a convicted killer. She’s devoted her life to God. What could they possibly have to say to one another?

A true story that spawned a best-selling book and an Academy Award-winning movie, Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking tells of Sister Helen Prejean and her time as spiritual advisor to Joseph de Rocher, a murderer on death row. The most performed new American opera of the 21st Century, Dead Man Walking “makes the most concentrated impact of any piece of American music theater since West Side Story.” (The Guardian).

 Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

photos: Jeff Roffman

West Side Story

Based on a conception of Jerome Robbins
Book: Arthur Laurents
Music: Leonard Bernstein
Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
Original production directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins
Nov 3 – 11, 2018

Two teenagers are drawn together across a crowded dance floor, believing love can conquer all, including differing backgrounds, languages, warring gangs, and miscommunication. Inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story has captivated audiences since its debut in 1957. Our version is in keeping with the original vision of Broadway legends Bernstein, Sondheim, and Robbins.

 Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

photos: Greg Mooney

Charlie Parker’s Yardbird

Music: Daniel Schnyder
Libretto: Bridgette A. Wimberly
Sept 27 – Oct 7, 2018

Acclaimed jazz saxophonist and composer Charlie Parker loved music, drugs, and women. He lived fast and died young, leaving an incredible legacy of jazz music in his short time.

Yardbird tells a not-quite-true story of Parker composing his final masterpiece while in the thin veil between life and death, reflecting on the women who influenced him and made him the master musician he was.

 Le Maison Rouge at Paris on Ponce

photos: Raftermen

2017-18 Season

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler
June 9 – 17, 2018

In this dark and witty tale, revenge-hungry Sweeney Todd returns to London to settle a few scores. After befriending Mrs. Lovett, the owner of a local pie shop known to have the Worst Pies in London, Sweeney and the dutiful baker hatch a plan to save the pie shop and exact a bloody revenge.

Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

photos: Jeff Roffman

Carmen

Composer: Georges Bizet
Librettists: Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy
April 28 – May 6, 2018

Carmen is a beautiful and free-spirited gypsy who makes men melt. When the naive Don José falls for her, he falls hard into a dangerous obsession, breaking up with his childhood sweetheart and abandoning the military. But the reckless Carmen cannot be tamed, and she grows weary of Don José once she meets the glamorous toreador, Escamillo. This messy love triangle won’t end well.

Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

photos: Jeff Roffman

Out of Darkness: Two Remain

Music: Jake Heggie
Libretto: Gene Scheer
April 5 – 15, 2018

This moving two-act opera centers on Holocaust survivors visited by ghosts of their past. In Act I, Krystyna shares her gripping story of survival with a journalist. In Act II, Gad Beck is visited by his first true love, the poet Manfred Lewin, who perished in Auschwitz.

The Balzer Theater at Herren’s (Theatrical Outfit)

photos: Jeff Roffman

The Daughter of the Regiment

Gaetano Donizetti
February 28 – March 4, 2018

Marie is a spirited and charming tomboy, adopted and raised by a French army regiment, and she has fallen in love with the handsome Tonio. When she receives new information about her identity, she must decide whether to follow her place in society, or follow her heart.

Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

photos: Raftermen

The Flying Dutchman

Richard Wagner
November 4 – 12, 2017

In this new production of the ancient ghost story, The Dutchman is doomed to wander the seas until he can find a faithful wife. A sailor’s daughter is doomed to an arranged marriage, but can’t shake her obsession with The Dutchman. Can true love change the course of their fates?

Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

photos: Jeff Roffman

The Seven Deadly Sins

Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht
September 28 – October 6, 2017

The Seven Deadly Sins is an intimate cabaret experience that centers on the duality of the opera’s personae, Anna I and Anna II. She/They embark on a seven-city pursuit of the American dream. In turn, they uncover each of the seven deadly sins: pride, covetousness, lust, wrath, gluttony, envy, and sloth.

Le Maison Rouge at Paris on Ponce

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photos: Jeff Roffman

2016-17 Season

The Abduction from the Seraglio

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
October 8 – 16, 2016

Belmonte, with his sidekick Pedrillo, sets off to Turkey to rescue his betrothed Konstanze. The frothy caper plays out in hilarious, action-packed circumstances wherein our heroes and heroines must outwit their captors, particularly the fiendish Osmin, overseer of the Pasha’s harem. The Abduction from the Seraglio is a farcical, colorful romance, and was one of Mozart’s first successes as a composer.

Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center

photos: Jeff Roffman

Silent Night

Kevin Puts
November 5 – 13, 2016

Silent Night is the powerful, true story of the spontaneous Christmas truce between French, British and German soldiers during World War I. On Christmas Eve, the opposing forces put down their weapons, come together around a makeshift tree, and play soccer matches. The soldiers’ peaceful actions are reprimanded by their commanders, but cast a lasting light on the good of humanity in the face of war.

Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center

photos: Jeff Roffman

Maria de Buenos Aires

Astor Piazzolla
February 2 – 7, 2017

Astor Piazzolla’s tango opera tells the story of Maria, the young prostitute who “was born on the day God was drunk.” As Maria falls in love with tango, she is pulled into a surreal world that blurs religion, dance and rebirth. This site-specific opera will be performed at Le Maison Rouge, the sexy burlesque hall located in Paris on Ponce on the BeltLine. Composer Astor Piazzolla was hailed for his ability to enchant audiences with his tango music and introduce them to new worlds. This immersive production will pull you into the performance and leave you begging for more.

Le Maison Rouge at Paris on Ponce

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photos: Jeff Roffman

Don Pasquale

Gaetano Donizetti
March 25 – April 2, 2017

In this production from director Chuck Hudson set in the golden era of Hollywood, Don Pasquale is an aging silent film star at the sunset of his career. Our protagonist sets off to find a wife and heir to his fortune. He gets hitched to the devious Norina, a widowed gold digger who conspires with Ernesto, the Don’s nephew. Supported by a chorus of servants dressed as Hollywood film stars, Don Pasquale is an uproarious evening of theater.

Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center

photos: Raftermen

Turandot

Giacomo Puccini
April 29 – May 7, 2017

Puccini’s epic tale centers around the Princess Turandot, who decapitates each suitor who fails to answer her riddles. Calaf falls in love with the ruthless Princess and heroically wins her ghastly game. Shockingly, Calaf proposes his own riddle to the Princess and puts his love and life in the hands of Turandot.

Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

photos: Raftermen

The Secret Gardener

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
May 19 – 20, 2017

The Discoveries series partners with New York-based On Site Opera to bring Mozart’s The Secret Gardener to life in a new site-specific co-production. Written by an 18-year-old Mozart, The Secret Gardener is a story of love, madness, and redemption that unfolds in the lush setting of a beautiful garden.

The Atlanta Botanical Garden

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photos: Jeff Roffman

2015-16 Season

Winter Journey

Franz Schubert
September 17-20, 2015

Based on 24 poems by Wilhelm Müller and composed by Schubert in 1827, Winter Journey is a story of unrequited love and a masterpiece of art song. Though the songs are a poetic, melancholic journey after the poet is rejected by his beloved, they also explore his connection to nature and the passing of the seasons. His journey is lonely but he finds himself united with the world around him and takes comfort in the natural order. Baritone David Adam Moore sings the title role of the poet who treks through the winter night. Solo pianist Earl Buys will accompany Moore.

Conant Performing Arts Center

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photos: Raftermen

La bohème

Giacomo Puccini
October 3 – 11, 2015

Based on Henri Murger’s novel, Scènes de la vie de bohème, (Scenes from a bohemian life), Puccini’s La bohème introduces us to Mimi and Rodolfo, young lovers living in Paris in the 19th century. Their group of bohemians (poets, painters, philosphers) traverses the emotional landscapes of love, poverty, and ultimately, loss.

Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center

photos: Jeff Roffman

Soldier Songs

David T. Little
November 11 – 15, 2015

Based on interviews with five US military veterans, Soldier Songs follows the true journey of a soldier beyond what we see in television and movies. The evening of theater will be a highly charged experience with arresting projections, eye-catching visuals and a thunderous score. Composer David T. Little combines elements of theater, opera, rock-infused-concert music, and animation to explore the perceptions versus the realities of the Soldier, the exploration of loss and exploitation of innocence, and the difficulty of expressing the truth of war.

Rialto Center for the Arts

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photos: Raftermen

The Pirates of Penzance

Gilbert & Sullivan
March 5 – 13, 2016

As Frederic enters the rank of full pirate at the end of his apprenticeship, he and his fellow pirates court the daughters of Major-General Stanley. This sets off a hilarious course of riotous events that pit Frederic against his pirate clan. The Pirates of Penzance is a rollicking show with serious operatic chops.

Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center

photos: Jeff Roffman

Romeo and Juliet

Charles Gounod
May 7 – 15, 2016

Charles Gonoud’s grand interpretation of Shakespeare’s story of young love comes to life on the Atlanta Opera stage for the first time in a decade. Seen through a decidedly French lens, the opera remains close to the timeless love story that takes us from masked ball to true love to the couple’s untimely death. The star-studded cast and visual treatments make this production stand out among a season full of gems.

Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center

photos: Jeff Roffman