Austin Opera Opens Single Ticket Sales for 2026-2027 Season, Beginning with OFRENDA, October 1 - 11, 2026

 

 

 

The historic fortieth season of Austin Opera begins October 1 -  11, 2026 with the company’s first world premiere commission, Ofrenda, with music by Jorge Sosa and a libretto by John de los Santos. The 90-minute chamber opera performed in English and Spanish will open the company’s new Sarah & Ernest Butler Performance  Center, bringing year-round community-centric programming to the city.

Five performances of the new opera, a celebration of family, cultural memory, and Día de los Muertos traditions, will launch Austin Opera’s biggest season in decades, with three additional productions planned for the Long Center for the Performing Arts: an epic staging of Jules Massenet’s Thaïs (November 13 & 15) starring soprano Nicole Heaston in the title role; the Texas premiere of the renowned love story Fellow Travelers by Gregory Spears and Greg Pierce (February 6-7); and Verdi’s timeless La traviata (April 18, 22 & 24, 2027) starring soprano Sara Gartland and tenor Kameron Lopreore as doomed lovers Violetta and Alfredo.

“I cannot think of a more ideal work to launch the 2026-2027 season and help us open the Butler Performance Center than Ofrenda, which has grown right here in Austin over the past three years through Jorge and John’s work in the Residency for Latinx Creatives,” said Annie Burridge, Austin Opera’s General Director & CEO. “Presenting this world premiere is both a celebration of artistic innovation and an act of community representation, highlighting the power of opera to honor heritage, inspire empathy, and & bring people together across cultures. Combined with three incredible love stories at the Long Center, this season puts opera at the center of Austin’s reputation and practice as the Live Music Capital of the World.”

Sarah & Ernest Butler Music Director Timothy Myers conducts November’s grand staging of Thaïs, Jules Massenet's tale of sensuality and spirituality, which centers around a seductive priestess and a holy man. Soprano Nicole Heaston stars in the title role of the Egyptian courtesan and priestess, with baritone Troy Cook as the Christian monk Athanaël.

In February, Austin Opera presents the Texas premiere of the trailblazing opera Fellow Travelers, a gay love story set during the Lavender Scare, a McCarthy-era witch hunt that ousted thousands of gay and lesbian employees from the federal government. Created by composer Gregory Spears, librettist Greg Pierce, and director Kevin Newbury, and based on Thomas Mallon’s best-selling 2007 novel, Fellow Travelers is one of the most critically acclaimed and widely produced operas of the past fifty years, selling more than 25,000 tickets over 14 productions across the United States.

April brings Verdi’s most timeless and lyrical score, La traviata, in a new co-production with Opera San Antonio, presented in three performances conducted by Timothy Myers and directed by E. Loren Meeker.

Single tickets for all four productions in Austin Opera’s 2026-2027 Season will goon sale next Thursday, July 30, at www.austinopera.org or by calling Patron Services at 512-472-5992, weekdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.