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Mozart’s comedy about the perils of attraction, fidelity, and compatibility returns to the California Theatre to open our 42nd season! When the cynical Don Alfonso wagers to two young lovers that their devoted girlfriends will cheat on them by the end of the day, they swaggeringly take him up on the offer. Who will come out on top, and what secrets of love will be revealed? With an all-star cast including Ricardo José Rivera as Guglielmo & Dale Travis as Don Alfonso, this is one show you do not want to miss! International tenor sensation Alek Shrader makes his OSJ directorial debut with Music Director Maestro Joseph Marcheso.

Puccini’s world-famous opera Madama Butterfly takes center stage this November. A dashing American officer marries a young geisha, and she gives up everything for love. Puccini’s soaring music follows her as she waits, dreaming of the day he’ll meet their child. But his return brings a devastating twist in this story of passion, betrayal, and heartbreak. César Delgado returns to Opera San José as the dashing yet unfaithful Pinkerton, with Emily Jensen making her Opera San José debut as the young Cio-cio San. Former Director in Residence Michelle Cuizon returns to OSJ to direct with Music Director Maestro Joseph Marcheso conducting.

Opera’s iconic double bill—Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci—brings timeless tales of love, jealousy, honor, infidelity, and murder to San José in February 2026. Filled with some of the most recognizable music of all time, including Cavalleria’s intermezzo and the haunting ‘Vesti la Giubba’ from Pagliacci, showcasing Italian Versimo at its best. Maria Natale makes a powerful return to Opera San José as the passionate Santuzza, joined by audience favorite Kidon Choi, who brings intensity and heart to the role of Tonio. Celebrated composer Alma Deutscher returns to conduct with Opera San José CEO and General Director Shawna Lucey directing this landmark production.

Our season concludes with Verdi’s tragic love story, La Traviata. The scandalous love affair between the courtesan Violetta Valery and the young gentleman Alfredo Germont threatens to tear the fabric of the Parisian social order apart. Set during the construction of the Eiffel Tower, this glittering production brings us into the heart of French society and makes us a bystander to one of the greatest and saddest love stories of all time. Mikayla Sager, most recently seen as one of our Mimìs in La Bohème, returns as the lovestruck courtesan with Former Artist-in-Residence WooYoung Yoon as her young lover. Former Conductor in Residence Johannes Löhner returns to make his principal conducting debut for Opera San José with inaugural Director-in-Residence Tara Branham returning to direct.