The New Orleans Opera is set to postpone its March production of “Der Rosenkavalier.”

The company has yet to officially make the announcement, but tickets for the production stopped being offered on Feb. 20, 2026. Prior to that OperaWire obtained letters sent by management to employees and members of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra noting the postponement.

Per a letter sent out by Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra Executive Director Anwar Nasir on Feb. 11, 2026, “The production, originally slated to take place as part of the New Orleans Opera festival next month, has been postponed to November 2026.” Nasir also references a letter sent out by Lila Palmer, General & Artistic Director of New Orleans Opera.

“I have made the strategic adjustment to our production schedule, and will postpone our largest-scale production of ‘Der Rosenkavalier’ until the third week of November 2026 to preserve artistic and operationali integrity,” said the letter by Palmer. “As you know, technical challenges are common when building festival-level capacity for the first time. The scope of our original vision ultimately provided to be beyond our current production and operational capacity. As we moved deeper into planning, it became clear that several integral components of ‘Der Rosenkavalier,’ from technical build-out to the layered artistic requirements, demanded more time, infrastructure, and support than we could deliver concurrently with the rest of the festival. The responsible path is to recognize that reality now, rather than push forward at the risk of quality or straining the organization.”

Palmer also notes that the company was making effects to retain conductor David Neely for the November reschedule.

Despite the letter being sent out on Feb. 11, tickets for the opera production remained on the company’s website for a week thereafter. OperaWire reached out several times via phone call and email to confirm but received no reply or answer. This story was only published once the production was removed from the official website.

The production was set to be presented on March 27 and 29, 2026 with Meredith Wohlgemuth and Amanda Majeski starring.

New Orleans Opera will now present “Dialogues des Carmélites” to open its festival and will also showcase a recital by Golda Schultz as well as “Showboat,” and “Pilgrimage.” The New Orleans Opera festival opens on March 24 and runs through March 29, 2026.