Monterone in Rigoletto *role debut
Making jokes is what Rigoletto does for a living, serving as court jester to the predatory Duke of Mantua. But the joke may be on him when one of his jests enrages Count Monterone, the father of the Duke’s latest victim, unleashing a curse with dangerous consequences for Rigoletto and his beautiful daughter Gilda.
San Diego Opera *house debut
Yves Abel, conductor
Stephen Caracciolo, chorus director
Featuring sopranos Maya Goell, Madison Leonard and Lisa Parente, mezzo-sopranos Guadalupe Paz and Emily Weinberg, tenors Adam Caughey and José Simerilla Romero, baritones Michael Chioldi, Søren Pedersen and Travis Sherwood and bass Peixin Chen.
October 23-25, 2026
San Diego Civic Theatre: San Diego, CA
More information, including tickets, can be found on SDO’s website.
LA Opera
Blair Salter, conductor
Featuring soprano Gabrielle Turgeon, mezzo-sopranos Gretchen Krupp and Alexis Seminario, tenors Roy Hage, Robert Norman and Orson Van Gay II, baritone Gabriel Manro and bass James Hayden.
October 30 and 31, 2026
United Theater on Broadway: Los Angeles, CA
November 6, 2026
McCallum Theatre: Palm Desert, CA
More information, including tickets, can be found on LA Opera’s website and McCallum Theatre’s website.
Hercules in Hercules vs. Vampires *role debut
This Halloween, LA Opera joins forces with the United Theater on Broadway for an only-in-LA collision of opera, orchestra, cult cinema and unabashed camp.
Hercules vs. Vampires is a musical reimagining of Mario Bava's 1961 sword-and-sandal cult classic Hercules in the Haunted World, starring former Mr. Universe Reg Park—an early mentor to Arnold Schwarzenegger—alongside the legendary Christopher Lee (Lord of the Rings, Dracula, Star Wars).
Patrick Morganelli's original score adds live singers and orchestra to Mario Bava's gloriously lurid fantasy, making an already over-the-top movie even more over the top. It's high art meets high camp, with equal parts beef and cheese.
Soloist in From Verdi to Verismo, The Verdi Chorus
Led by Anne Marie Ketchum, who is embarking on her forty-third consecutive year as Artistic Director of the organization, the Verdi Chorus is the only choral group in Southern California that focuses primarily on the dramatic and diverse music for opera chorus. The program will feature operatic sequences from Verdi's Otello, Giovanna d'Arco and Il Corsaro along with selections from Leoncavello's Pagliacci and Puccini's Le villi, Tosca, and La bohéme.
Anne Marie Ketchum, Artistic Director and conductor
Wendy Caldwell, pianist
Featuring soprano Jamie Chamberlin Granner and tenor Nathan Granner, and soloists from The Verdi Chorus.
November 14 and 15, 2026
First Presbyterian Church: Santa Monica, CA
More information, including tickets, can be found on The Verdi Chorus’ website.
Anglin Lake at NYFOS
In songs about our machines, our home, and our finitude, this concert contrasts humanity’s reach with its grasp. Daniel Pesca’s “Terra Incognita” imagines four stages in the process of lunar exploration; works by Thomas Kotcheff and Joel Balzun look more closely at natural processes of wonder closer to home. A premiere of selections from leiken’s “I Have Been the Blue Salmon,” from their forthcoming evening length work “Ars moriendi” proposes a quietly soulful relationship with limitation.
Featuring tenor Paul Appleby and pianist Nathaniel LaNasa performing the concert premiere of Anglin Lake, alongside mezzo-soprano Shannon Keegan and vocalist leiken.
Sunday, November 15, 2026
The Theater at 150W17TH: New York City, NY
More information, including tickets, can be found on NYFOS’ website.
Fort Collins Symphony *debut
February 6, 2027
The Lincoln Center: Fort Collins, CO
More information, including tickets, can be found on Fort Collins Symphony’s website.
Tonio in Pagliacci
Joel returns to a role that is quickly becoming his critically-acclaimed signature.
Step into the world of opera with Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, one of the most exciting examples of verismo, or “real-life” opera. The story follows love, jealousy, and betrayal among traveling performers, full of soaring arias and intense drama that still grabs audiences today.
Columbus Symphony *debut
Rossen Milanov, conductor
Stephen Caracciolo, chorus director
Featuring soprano Aubry Ballarò, tenor Jonas Hacker and the Columbus Symphony Chorus
March 12 and 13, 2027
Ohio Theater: Columbus, OH
More information, including tickets, can be found on Columbus Symphony’s website.
Soloist in The Creation
As one of the most influential figures in Classical music, Haydn is remembered as the father of both the string quartet and the symphony — but for his masterpiece The Creation, he turned to oratorio, combining orchestra, chorus, and soloists to illustrate a stunning musical depiction of the Book of Genesis. Soprano Aubry Ballarò, tenor Jonas Hacker, and baritone Joel Balzun sing as the archangels Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael, and later embody Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Fans of Handel’s Messiah will not want to miss the glorious singing of the Columbus Symphony Chorus and the orchestra’s tone painting of the chaos of the universe, bringing of light, and creation of heaven, earth, animals, and man.