The Washington National Opera has announced its 2021–2022 season featuring four world premiere commissions celebrating the Kennedy Center’s 50th Anniversary and several debuts from acclaimed and rising opera stars.

The season opens with “Come Home: A Celebration of Return,” a concert performance of opera excerpts highlighting liberty and artistic idealism, themes embraced by John F. Kennedy and featuring a musical tribute to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The performances will feature the WNO debut of Pretty Yende, Isabel Leonard, Lawrence Brownlee, Alexandria Shiner, David Butt Philip, and Christian Van Horn. Principal Conductor Evan Rogister leads the WNO Orchestra and Chorus.

Performance Dates: Nov. 6–14, 2021

In celebration of the Kennedy Center’s 50th Anniversary, the WNO will present “Written on Stone.” The work will be made up of commissioned four commissioned works by four teams of world-renowned artists, musicians, composers, and librettists. The works were inspired by Washington D.C.’s iconic monuments and the ideals embodied by President Kennedy. The creative teams for this project include Alicia Hall Moran and MacArthur Fellow, pianist, composer, and Kennedy Center Artistic Director for Jazz Jason Moran, composer Huang Ruo and Pulitzer Prize finalist and Tony Award®–winning librettist and playwright David Henry Hwang, innovative composer/performer Kamala Sankaram and author and D.C. native A.M. Homes and Kennedy Center Vice President and Artistic Director of Social Impact Marc Bamuthi Joseph and Kennedy Center’s newly appointed Composer-in-Residence Carlos Simon. Robert Spano conducts the works featuring stars J’Nai Bridges and Rod Gilfry.

Performance Dates: March 5–25, 2022

Mozart’s “Così fan tutte” returns to the stage with a cast that includes Laura Wilde, Rihab Chaieb, Kang Wang, Andrey Zhilikhovsky, Ana María Martínez, and Eric Owens. Erina Yashima makes her American debut at the podium.

Performance Dates: March 12–March 26, 2022

Bizet’s “Carmen“ will showcase the D.C. premiere of Francesca Zambello’s acclaimed production. Evan Rogister conducts the work with Isabel Leonard, Vanessa Vasquez, Ryan Speedo Green, and Michael Fabiano, who makes his house debut.

Performance Dates: May 14–28, 2022

Special Concerts 

The season will also feature the annual Marian Anderson Vocal Award to spotlight rising star and Cafritz Young Artists alum Frederick Ballentine.

Performance Date: Dec. 7, 2021

The season will see the return of the conversation series, “Let’s Go There.” Moderated by musician, content creator, and media personality Garrett McQueen. The series will continue its mission of bringing figures from arts, culture, academia, politics, and more to use opera as a prism to examine and candidly discuss modern day issues.

The season will also include WNO’s Pop-up Opera truck’s performances of Mo Willems’s first opera, “Elephant & Piggie present SLOPERA!: A Bite-Sized Opera,” an immersive VR experience featuring Tamara Wilson and Russell Thomas, and The Cartography Project, a multi-year commissioning project engaging artists from around the nation to create a musical map that explores the theme of Black dignity.