The Chicago Opera Theater has announced its 2025-26 season.

The season opens with Trusted: Vanguard Piano/Vocal Workshop, featuring a public concert reading and audience engagement in the workshop process for Aaron Israel Levin and Marella Martin Koch’s new opera in development at COT.

Performance Date: Sept. 21, 2025

There will be a Discovery Concert: Shakespeare Sings, which will feature arias and scenes from operas inspired by the works of William Shakespeare in advance of Salieri’s “Falstaff”

Performance Date: Oct. 19, 2025

The first production of the season will be “Falstaff, ossia Le tre burle” by Antonio Salieri. The production will be directed by Robin Guarino and conducted by Christine Brandes.

Stephen Powell stars in the title role alongside Vanessa Becerra as Mistress Ford, Andrew Morstein as Master Ford, Tzytle Steinman as Mistress Slender, Laureano Quant as Master Slender, and Denis Vélez as Betty.

Performance Date: Dec. 3-7, 2025

“Discovery Concert: In America’s Embrace” will feature arias and scenes from operas by composers who immigrated to America in advance of Weill’s “Der Silbersee.”

Performance Date: Jan. 18, 2025

Kurt Weill’s “Der Silbersee: A Winter’s Fairy Tale” will be directed by Lawrence Edelson and conducted by James Lowe. The cast will include Curtis Bannister as Severin, Justin Hopkins as Olim, Ariana Strahl as Fennimore, Dylan Morrongiello as both The Lottery Agent and Baron Laur, Leah Dexter as the duplicitous Frau von Luber, and Boya Wei and Sophia Maekawa as the Shopgirls.

Performance Dates: March 4-8, 2026

The company will present “Trusted,” a Concert World Premiere of the seventh opera commissioned and developed under the auspices of the Vanguard Initiative. 

Performance Dates: May 30, 2026