2026 summer festival
Cincinnati is a city that knows and loves great music—and this season, we’re raising the curtain on something extraordinary.
Whether you're discovering opera for the first time or have loved it for years, there's a place for you in the experience. Join us for Cincinnati Opera’s 106th season, featuring the return of beloved grand operas, a fresh take on the world’s first great opera, popular, artist-driven Studio Sessions, and the launch of Cincinnati Opera’s groundbreaking, three-season initiative, The Black Opera Project.
Leading up to the season, there will be an engaging variety of free educational and community programs, including Opera Raps and fan-favorite Opera Goes to Church!, plus a suite of fun and entertaining events created by our Young Professionals volunteers.
Season tickets are on sale now and include the best seats, savings of up to 15% off regular prices, free ticket exchanges, and other great perks. NEW! Three-show packages now start at just $60.
Tickets to individual performances go on sale November 20, 2025.
salome
Music by Richard Strauss
Libretto by Hedwig Lachmann
June 18 & 20, 2026 | 7:30 p.m.
Music Hall • Springer Auditorium
Salome, the teenage princess of Judea, becomes dangerously fixated on the imprisoned prophet John the Baptist. When he rejects her advances, her desire curdles into obsession. At her stepfather Herod’s birthday feast, Salome dances and, at her maniacal mother’s behest, demands a gruesome reward. Set to Richard Strauss’s lush score, Salome is a fever dream of lust, power, and prophecy, where every glance is loaded and no desire is without cost.
STUDIO SESSIONS
June 25, 2026 | 8:00 p.m.
July 1, 2026 | 8:00 p.m.
Wilks Studio • Music Hall
Cincinnati Opera artists take to the cabaret stage in these intimate performances in Music Hall’s Wilks Studio. Each 90-minute performance includes musical selections that shine a spotlight on the amazing artistry and personal stories of these talented performers. Get ready for two intimate evenings of extraordinary sound and splendor with our stars!
lalovavi
Music by Kevin Day
Libretto by Tifara Brown
July 9 & 11, 2026 | 7:30 p.m.
Music Hall • Springer Auditorium
Set 400 years into the future, Lalovavi is an Afrofuturist adventure that follows Persephone, the youngest daughter of the ruler of Atlas, the city formerly known as Atlanta. Currency and status in Atlas are determined based on the presence of Syndica, a gene that promotes vitality and longevity. When Persephone is found to possess a version of Syndica that confers immortality, she is betrayed by her family and must run for her life. Thrust into an epic journey, she uncovers a hidden past that leads her to discover love’s true meaning and the power to determine her destiny.
carmen
Music by Georges Bizet
Libretto by Ludovic Halévy and Henri Meilhac
July 25, 29 & 31, 2026 | 7:30 p.m.
August 2, 2026 | 3:00 p.m.
Music Hall • Springer Auditorium
The fiercely independent Carmen lives—and loves—on her own terms. When she sets her sights on Don José, a straight-laced soldier with a fiancée back home, he quickly unravels, abandoning everything for her. But Carmen’s heart doesn’t stay in one place for long, and when the charismatic toreador Escamillo enters the ring, jealousy turns deadly. Set to Bizet’s iconic, rhythm-driven score, Carmen is a story of desire, freedom, and fatal choices.
Orpheus and Euridice
Music and text by Ricky Ian Gordon
July 28 & 30, 2026 | 8:00 p.m.
August 1, 2026 | 3:00 p.m. & 8:00 p.m.
Orpheus, a grieving musician, loses his beloved Euridice too soon—and is granted one impossible chance to bring her back from the underworld. Guided by music and memory, he descends into a realm of shadows with only one rule: don’t look back. Ricky Ian Gordon’s Orpheus and Euridice retells the ancient myth with lyrical intimacy and emotional clarity, blending classical voice with contemporary style. It’s a haunting meditation on love, loss, and letting go.