Continuing its commitment to delivering exceptional opera and vocal performance to the community, San Diego Opera’s upcoming season features three of the most revered operas in the repertoire, accompanied by the San Diego Symphony Orchestra.

San Diego Opera’s 2024-2025 season opens on Friday, November 1, with one of opera’s most widely known and beloved operas, Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème, paying homage to the company’s first-ever production on the Civic Theatre stage in 1965.

Opera productions will continue in Spring 2025, with Richard Strauss’s Salome in March 2025 and Guiseppe Verdi’s La Traviata in April 2025. Throughout its sixty seasons, the San Diego Opera has sought both up-and-coming and established talent, and this season is no different.

Highlighting New and Returning Talent

This season will see the return of vocal artists such as Marcy Stonikas, a seasoned soprano last seen with the San Diego Opera in 2020, having since performed with the Metropolitan Opera and Seattle Opera. She makes her return as the titular character of Salome.

Renowned bass Kyle Albertson who has performed with the Metropolitan Opera and Dallas Opera also returns to San Diego appearing as Jochanaan in Salome.

Keturah Stickann—a visionary director whose work has appeared with opera companies around the world—will reprise her role as director of La Bohème after having directed San Diego Opera’s innovative drive-in production in 2020.

In addition to the return of seasoned talent, the 2024-2025 season also features exciting debuts, including Kathleen O’Mara as Mimì in La Bohème, who, since graduating from Juilliard in 2020, has performed with LA Opera and Opera Theatre of St. Louis.

Lidiya Yankovskaya will also make her first appearance with the San Diego Opera, conducting the San Diego Symphony Orchestra for La Bohème. She has conducted more than 40 world premieres, including 17 operas.

Tenor Zach Borichevsky will debut with San Diego Opera as Alfredo in La Traviata, having also performed this role with the Seattle Opera and shared his talents with audiences at Opera Philadelphia, Boston Lyric Opera, and other companies around the world.

“As we embark on our 60th season, we are thrilled to continue sharing the transformative art of opera with our audiences in new and exciting ways,” said David Bennett, General Director of the San Diego Opera.

“We’re proud to announce a season of works by three of opera’s most beloved composers—Puccini, Strauss, and Verdi—reflecting our unwavering commitment to providing San Diego with more opportunities to experience the power of the human voice and the magic of opera.”

With a focus on strategic growth and innovation, San Diego Opera’s upcoming season will feature three performances of each mainstage opera production, bringing back the Saturday evening performance. 

Innovative Production Techniques

Over the years, San Diego Opera has established itself as a leader in innovative opera productions—expertly combining tradition with technology to expand its reach and emphasize the lasting significance of the art form.

While each opera production in the 2024-2025 season is classic and well-known, San Diego Opera’s productions will use state-of-the-art visual projections to bring the settings and scenes to life.

These innovative projections, combined with traditional costumes reflecting the time period when the opera was first written, elevate and modernize the visual experience for seasoned aficionados and newcomers alike.

“San Diego Opera’s forward-thinking strategy for our upcoming productions is not only about entertaining audiences, it’s about making opera more accessible, engaging, and captivating for everyone,” said Yves Abel, San Diego Opera Principal Conductor.

“I am proud to continue our association with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra and our very own San Diego Opera Chorus. We are truly blessed to have such world-class artists collaborating with us, and this unparalleled talent helps elevate every performance.”

2024-2025 San Diego Opera Performance Schedule

Subscription prices range from $105 to $885 and include all three productions. Single ticket prices range from $25 to $325 (single ticket prices are subject to change).

November 1 to 3, 2024

La Bohème – Giacomo Puccini
San Diego Civic Theatre
Keturah Stickann – Director
Lidiya Yankovskaya – Conductor (SDO debut)
Kathleen O’Mara – Mimì (SDO debut)

Young love… nothing is more all-consuming, turbulent, passionate, and heartbreaking. La Bohème, the timeless opera composed by Puccini, follows the lives of a group of struggling artists, including the poet Rodolfo and the seamstress Mimi, as they navigate love, friendship, and hardship in 19th-century Paris. 

Full of some of the greatest melodies and arias Puccini ever composed,  La Bohème remains an opera for those who are in love and for those who remember.

March 21 to 23, 2025

Salome – Richard Strauss
San Diego Civic Theatre
Marcy Stonikas – Salome (SDO appearance – Gertrude in Hansel and Gretel, February 2020)
Kyle Albertson – Jochanaan (SDO appearance – Sparafucile in Rigoletto, February 2019)
Yves Abel – Principal Conductor, San Diego Opera

Richard Strauss’s masterpiece Salome is a shocking opera based on Oscar Wilde’s play of the same name. Salome tells the biblical story of Princess Salome, who becomes infatuated with John the Baptist, a prisoner in her stepfather King Herod’s court.

When she is promised anything she wants by King Herod,  Salome demands the head of John the Baptist, which Herod delivers to her—at a price.

Strauss’s ground-breaking score reflects the dark and unsettling themes of the story, and every role requires extraordinary vocal and dramatic skills from the artists.

April 25-27, 2025

La Traviata – Giuseppe Verdi
San Diego Civic Theatre
Andriana Chuchman – Violetta (SDO appearance- Micaëla in Carmen, March 2017)
Zach Borichevsky – Alfredo (SDO debut)
Yves Abel – Principal Conductor, San Diego Opera

Experience the passion and beauty of  La Traviata. Verdi’s timeless masterpiece transports you to the dazzling world of 19th-century Paris, where Violette Valéry, a courtesan, falls in love with the young nobleman Alfredo Germont.

Despite their passionate affair, societal conventions and family interference threaten their happiness, and Violetta is forced to make a heartbreaking choice. With its emotionally charged music, memorable arias, and thrilling duets, La Traviata remains one of the most beloved operas of all time.

See you there!

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See you there, San Diego!