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.

EPSG:4326

La Traviata

California Theatre

What happens when a kingdom built on rigid rules and fragile power collides with the forces of laughter, desire, and rebellion?

Originally penned in 1933 by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, Kingdom of Cards is a darkly whimsical and poetic satire that challenges authoritarianism, blind conformity, and materialistic greed. In this bold new adaptation, Sukanya Chakrabarti reimagines Tagore’s allegory through a contemporary lens, fusing magic realism with urgent political commentary.

Featuring the talents of student artists and community voices, and enriched by the evocative strains of Rabindrasangeet (Tagore’s own musical tradition), this production invites audiences to question systems of control—and rediscover the power of imagination, resistance, and the human spirit.

SJSU Theatre Presents: Kingdom of Cards

Hammer Theatre Center

Come and dance the waltzes and contradances of the early nineteenth century Viennese ballroom to the music of Beethoven and his contemporaries! Taking place in the lovely ballroom of the San Jose Woman’s Club, the Beethoven Ball features live music from the SJSU Symphony Orchestra directed by Gordon Haramaki, with dance and commedia dell'arte pantomime performances from vintage dance groups Dance Through Time and The Academy of Danse Libre. Ball dances will include contradances reconstructed from nineteenth-century sources by Joan Walton. No previous dance experience is necessary to participate. Come in your dressy attire: Regency period costume encouraged!

SJSU Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies presents the Beethoven Ball 2026

San Jose Woman's Club

Join us for a choral celebration of women’s voices from Hildegard von Bingen to Susan B. Anthony.

The San José State University Choraliers and Concert Choir in collaboration with Monta Vista High School Choirs present the Bay Area premier of Andrea Ramsey’s powerful Suffrage Cantata featuring narrator Simone Ledward-Boseman. Works by Vittoria Aleotti, Moira Bosch, and Elaine Hagenberg among others, as well as projections and narration will guide audience members on a journey that tells our nation’s authentic story of struggle and resilience in the fight for gender rights.

SJSU School of Music presents Hildegard Festival featuring Andrea Ramsey’s Suffrage Cantata

Podcast link: https://youtu.be/4hagYvrYbuM

The Artelize Podcast and Kasper Holten - Pedefining Opera for the modern world

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d36M5Hi6O80

The Artelize Podcast - A legacy of innovation in Opera: Celebrating Marc A. Scorca

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59E40S_EQSY

The Artelize Podcast: A love letter that was never sent

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THv6htilWtI

The Artelize Podcast and Adolfo Corrado: Mediterranean flavors, opera and social media

Experience the majesty of nature through Beethoven’s musical landscape, where every note tells the story of harmony between humanity and earth. This supremely evocative journey takes you on an unforgettable journey through our serene, powerful, and breathtaking world.

Beethoven's Pastorale

In her immaculate Silicon Valley home office, Merril believes in patterns and systems. But her life as a hotshot coder and AI expert falls apart when her younger sister Angie vanishes on her way home from class. After the police abandon their search, Merril gathers the digital material her sister left behind — from texts and emails to online purchases and social media comments — and creates an AI composite. The virtual Angie is a comfort. Until it starts to reveal new details about the real Angie’s disappearance.

anthropology

City Lights Theater Company of San Jose

New Ballet Presents: Giselle

New Ballet presents My Very First Ballet - Giselle

Featuring the Young Artist winners of the International Klein String Competition and a new work by a winner of the Allan Strange Memorial Composition Contest.

Concerto Night

St Francis Episcopal Church

Hector Sanchez presents Mexico Musical

Step into a whimsical world of wonder as San Jose Dance Theatre presents Alice in Wonderland! Follow curious Alice as she tumbles down the rabbit hole into a fantastical realm filled with enchanting characters — the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, and the mischievous Queen of Hearts. This delightful ballet brings Lewis Carroll’s beloved story to life through vibrant costumes, imaginative choreography, and magical stage design. Perfect for audiences of all ages, Alice in Wonderland is a fairytale adventure that will captivate children and delight the child within us all.

San Jose Dance Theatre Presents Alice in Wonderland

The FIFA 2026 World Cup comes to Santa Clara County, but before any of the globe’s greatest soccer players hit the pitch, Symphony San Jose’s all-star musicians will showcase a line-up of international greats of their own.

Symphonic World Cup

The award-winning San Francisco Brass Band returns to Hammer Theatre, inviting audiences to journey beyond the familiar in their upcoming concert “Realms and Galaxies.” This thrilling program explores epic worlds and cosmic adventures through the power and color of the British-style brass band. Highlights include sweeping selections from Johan de Meij’s iconic Lord of the Rings Symphony, bringing Tolkien’s visions to life, alongside exhilarating music from the blockbuster film Independence Day, capturing the intensity of a cinematic battle against extraterrestrial invaders. The band will also feature one of their own soloists in Martin Ellerby’s Baritone Concerto, highlighting the exceptional talent within the ensemble. From mythical landscapes to interstellar drama, “Realms and Galaxies” promises to transport audiences of all ages out of this world!

San Francisco Brass Band presents Realms & Galaxies

When a freak roller-coaster accident claims the lives of a Canadian choir group on a field trip, the teens end up in a truly bizarre purgatory. A mechanical fortune teller tells them that only one of them can be brought back to life. To win the ultimate prize, they must prove who deserves it the most…by telling their story through song. Full of edgy comedy and musical styles ranging from dance pop to vaudeville, this Off-Broadway musical has also gone viral on TikTok. “Simultaneously dark, funny, and poignantly life-affirming.” –Variety

Ride the Cyclone

Back after 12 years, Opera San Jose builds a new production of Don Giovanni, Mozart’s dark psychological thriller. Seduction, rebellion, and supernatural justice collide in a thrilling look at a notorious libertine’s downfall. The production follows a charismatic anti-hero who pursues pleasure without remorse, leaving a trail of broken hearts and vengeful spirits in a world re-examining the limits of entitlement. Maria Brea returns as the cheated and furious Donna Elvira, with Jonghyun Park as the naive, well-intentioned Don Ottavio. Music Director Joseph Marcheso and stage director Alek Schrader collaborate to bring this visceral inquiry into power and conscience to the heart of Silicon Valley.

Don Giovanni

Tradition meets revolution in Opera San Jose’s new production of Fiddler on the Roof. In a vibrant Jewish shtetl on the eve of upheaval, Tevye, the enduring dairyman, grapples with his daughters’ dreams of love while clinging to the customs that provide his world’s structural integrity. In one of America’s most diverse immigrant hubs, this story of heritage, adaptation, and belonging is deeply personal, a reflection of San Jose’s own balancing act between honoring the past and stepping bravely into the future. OSJ favorite Eugene Brancoveanu makes his role debut as Tevye, joined by Nicole Koh as Tzeitel and Melissa Sondhi as Hodel. Celebrated conductor George Manahan returns to the podium alongside director Crystal Manich to reignite this celebration of joy and human resilience on the California Theatre Stage.

Fiddler on the Roof

The gripping intensity of John Adams’s Doctor Atomic arrives in an all-new production at the California Theatre, led by visionary General Director Shawna Lucey. Chronicling the moral and emotional turmoil surrounding the Manhattan Project, this opera dramatizes the high­stakes days when J. Robert Oppenheimer and his team confronted the ethical weight of unleashing unprecedented destructive power. Haunting choruses and pulsating rhythms capture the tension between scientific breakthrough and human conscience. In the heart of Silicon Valley, where ideas become forces that shape the globe, this landmark work lands not only as history, but as a reflection of our own innovation and its enduring consequence. Maestro Joseph Marcheso returns to the podium to conduct this essential inquiry into the soul of the machine.

Doctor Atomic

We close our season with the most celebrated tale of passion, jealousy, and fatal attraction, set against the sultry backdrop of Seville: Bizet’s Carmen. In this high-stakes collision of autonomy and obsession, the bold, free-spirited Carmen refuses to be possessed, drawing the soldier Don Jose into a dangerous world of defiance that ends in a seismic reckoning of the heart. From the defiant “Habanera” to the triumphant “Toreador Song,” this production pulses with an intensity and sensuality that persists until the final, bitter moments. Alex Boyer, fresh from his Met debut, returns to the California Theatre stage as the obsessed Don José. This beloved Opera San José production, which has introduced the transformative force of opera to thousands, remains an essential experience for a city that values radical independence and the unfiltered spirit.

Events in San Jose, CA

La Traviata

Opera San Jose

SJSU Theatre Presents: Ki...

Hammer Theatre

SJSU Ira F. Brilliant Cen...

Hammer Theatre

SJSU School of Music pres...

Hammer Theatre

The Artelize Podcast and ...

Artelize

The Artelize Podcast - A ...

Artelize

The Artelize Podcast: A l...

Artelize

The Artelize Podcast and ...

Artelize

Beethoven's Pastorale

Symphony San José

anthropology

Theatre Bay Area

New Ballet Presents: Gise...

Hammer Theatre

New Ballet presents My Ve...

Hammer Theatre

Concerto Night

San José Chamber Orchestra

Hector Sanchez presents M...

Hammer Theatre

San Jose Dance Theatre Pr...

Hammer Theatre

Symphonic World Cup

Symphony San José

San Francisco Brass Band ...

Hammer Theatre

Ride the Cyclone

Theatre Bay Area

Don Giovanni

Opera San Jose

Fiddler on the Roof

Opera San Jose

Doctor Atomic

Opera San Jose

Carmen

Opera San Jose