Mazzola, 55, replaces Andrew Davis on a five-year contract for 2021-22. From September 26th, he will also conduct Beethoven's “Fidelio” and “The Listeners.”
The company has not yet announced a replacement for general director Anthony Freud. Freud announced last fall that he would retire after the 2023-24 season, his 13th season.
“Blue” premiered on July 14, 2019 at Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, New York. Kenneth Kellogg returns from his first appearance in an opera about a black police officer whose son is killed by a white police officer. Tazewell Thompson, who wrote the libretto, will direct the production at the Lyric Opera House. It was originally scheduled for 2020 at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater at Navy Pier, but was postponed due to the pandemic.
“The Listeners” opens at Norwegian Opera on September 24, 2022, and its U.S. premiere is scheduled for September 25 at Philadelphia Opera. Nicole Heaston reprises her role as Claire in this opera about charismatic leaders, cult rituals and religion. Environmental noise that only a few people can hear.
Mary Birnbaum has directed Rigoletto since 2006, starring Igor Golovatenko, Javier Camarena, and Gilda Mane Galoyan.
Fidelio, directed by Matthew Ozawa, will be performed for the first time at the San Francisco Opera in 2021, opening on September 26th, starring tenor Russell Thomas and soprano Elsa van den Heever.
Mozart's “The Marriage of Figaro'' opens on November 9th in Barbara Gaines' 2015 production. Conductor Erina Yashima will make her lyric debut with a cast that includes Peter Kellner, Federica Lombardi, and Ying Huang.
Puccini's “La Bohème” opens on March 15, 2025, starring Irene Perez and Pene Patti in a production created by Herbert Ross at the LA Opera in 1993. In Chicago, Melanie Buckering will direct.