Category Archives: opera

LALOVAVI
Cincinnati Opera
July 9-11
Springer Auditorium Music Hall [Over-the-Rhine]

Official cast and creative team (scroll down)

Set 400 years into the future, Lalovavi (lah-low-VAH-vee) is an Afrofuturist adventure that follows Persephone, the youngest daughter of the ruler of Atlas, the city formerly known as Atlanta. Currency and status in Atlas are determined based on the presence of Syndica, a gene that promotes vitality and longevity. When Persephone is found to possess a version of Syndica that confers immortality, she is betrayed by her family and must run for her life. She is thrust into an epic journey, uncovering a hidden past that leads her to discover love’s true meaning and the power to determine her destiny.  Sung in English and Tut* with projected English lyrics and translation. Includes brief, non-graphic depictions of violence presented in a theatrical context.

• Thu & Sat, July 9 & 11 at 7:30pm

Official page | Facebook events |

*Tut is a language that is indigenous to Black Americans and passed down from their enslaved ancestors, who developed Tut as a mechanism for learning how to read and write when it was illegal for them to do so. The title of the opera, “lalovavi,” is the Tut word for “love.”

SALOME
Cincinnati Opera
June 18-20
Springer Auditorium Music Hall [Over-the-Rhine]

Official cast and creative team (scroll down)

Salome, the teenage princess of Judea, becomes dangerously fixated on the imprisoned prophet John the Baptist. When he rejects her advances, her desire curdles into obsession. At her stepfather Herod’s birthday feast, Salome dances and, at her maniacal mother’s behest, demands a gruesome reward. Set to Richard Strauss’s lush score, Salome is a fever dream of lust, power, and prophecy, where every glance is loaded and no desire is without cost. Sung in German with projected English translations. Rated R for adult themes, violence, suggestive situations

• Thu & Sat, June 18 & 20 at 7:30pm

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FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
Cincinnati Opera
July 23-27
Music Hall [Over-the-Rhine]

Tevye, a poor milkman, lives with his wife Golde, and their five daughters. He wants what all parents want for their children: a better life. One after the other, Tevye’s daughters stray from tradition. They risk their futures with husbands of their own choice, doing that pesky thing people do called following their hearts. Winner of nine Tony Awards including Best Musical, Fiddler on the Roof features timeless songs like “Matchmaker, Matchmaker,” “Sunrise, Sunset,” “If I Were a Rich Man,” and a universal story of family, love, and tradition. Sung in English with projected lyrics.

• Wed, July 23 at 7:30pm
• Fri-Sat, July 25-26 at 7:30pm
• Sun, July 27 at 3pm

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TOSCA
Cincinnati Opera
June 26-28
Music Hall Springer Auditorium [Over-the-Rhine]

Floria Tosca suspects her lover of being unfaithful when really, he’s helping an escaped political prisoner and friend. This misunderstanding mutates into a series of escalating and irreversible misfortunes once Baron Scarpia, the chief of the secret police, enters the scene. Set in Rome during a time of national upheaval, as Napoleon’s army marches on Italy, Puccini’s epic opera stands as one of the most enduring and beloved of all time. Whatever darkness or desires Scarpia may bring, there is nothing Tosca will not do for art and love. Sung in Italian with projected English translations.

• Thu, June 26 at 7:30pm
• Sat, June 28 at 7:30pm

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