Love, death and puppetry loom large in Atlanta Opera’s new season

Who knew that three pandemics in three centuries would give birth to three unique Atlanta Opera productions, two of them in the 2024-25 season? But nothing should surprise us about Artistic Director Tomer Zvulun’s programming wizardry.

Atlanta Opera is soaring high. As its 45th season approaches, the company is celebrating several milestones.

In the fall of 2023, Atlanta Opera was named a Top 10 American opera company in recognition of its growth and artistic success under the direction of General and Artistic Director Tomer Zvulun.

Last season, the company performed magnificent productions of Rigoletto, La Bohème and a powerful Die Walküre, among other great works.

Two years ago, the company took on the challenge of Richard Wagner’s towering four-part Der Ring des Nibelungen, an ultimate test for any opera company. The Ring cycle continues next season with the third and most heroic of the four operas, Siegfried (April 26 through May 4, 2025).

The 2024-25 season opens with a compelling initiative that takes the company into rock opera territory at Pullman Yards. The Bohème Project (September 18 through October 16) alternates Puccini’s 1896 La Bohème with the Tony-award winning 1994 adaptation of the same story, Rent.

Though a sharp contrast in styles — with Bohème a lyrical favorite and Rent a hard-charging Broadway blockbuster — both celebrate love, art and freedom amid an epidemic. In Atlanta Opera’s traditional Bohème last season, the heroine dies of tuberculosis; next season’s production will be a modern-day version set in the years of the Covid pandemic. In Rent, meanwhile, the story  takes place in New York City during the 1990s AIDS crisis.

The works will be performed on alternate evenings on the same set, with the action taking place in and around the seated audience at Pullman Yards.

The Bohème Project will be followed by four productions at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. All center on the idea of a “hero’s journey,” Zvulun said.

Mozart’s The Magic Flute (November 5 through November 10) is the perennially popular opera about Prince Tamino and his comical companion, Papageno, who journey to rescue the Queen of the Night’s daughter, Pamina. This production features a brightly colored set with fanciful puppets. Among the musical highlights is the famous Queen of the Night aria, with the soprano soaring to a stratospheric “F” above high “C.”

Verdi’s Macbeth (March 1 through March 9, 2025), based on Shakespeare’s tragedy, is a dark, early masterpiece by the Italian composer. A work of great arias and bold choruses, Macbeth spotlights some of Verdi’s most challenging music for soprano — in this case, for Lady Macbeth, which will be played by Sara Gartland. The role of Macbeth, meanwhile, will feature Atlanta Opera favorite Michael Mayes, who has appeared in such productions as Bluebeard’s Castle, Dead Man Walking and Sweeney Todd.

Wagner’s Siegfried (April 26 through May 4, 2025) is an epic five-hour opera where love, courage and wisdom triumph over greed and power. German tenor Stefan Vinke will take on the title role, one of the most demanding in the operatic repertoire, requiring unique vocal heft and stamina. The cast also includes the return of Greer Grimsley, the commanding Wotan from the first two installments of Atlanta’s Ring cycle.

Closing out the season, Handel’s Semele (June 7 through June 15, 2025) should prove a rare treat for opera-goers. Opera houses are so dominated by the 19th century Romantic repertoire that there’s often little room for Baroque works such as this 1744 opera about an adulterous sexual relationship, drawn from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. It premiered in London during Lent and was not what audiences were expecting during such a solemn season. Musically, it’s an opera characterized by melting lyricism and dazzling vocal pyrotechnics.

The Atlanta Opera will also continue to film select productions. The company’s TAO Film Studio recently won two Telly Awards, one of them in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for Social Video category.

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Paul Hyde is a longtime arts journalist and English instructor in Upstate South Carolina. He writes frequently for the Greenville Journal, South Carolina Daily Gazette and Classical Voice North America.