Minnesota Opera’s 2025-26 season features ‘Pagliacci,’ ‘My Name Is Florence’ and ‘Edgar’

From the ridiculous to the sublime. That’s one way of looking at Minnesota Opera’s 2025-26 season. What opens with a silly Mozart rom-com concludes with the backstage tragedy of Ruggero Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci.” In between, you can have your eyes and ears opened to the talents of a woman composer almost forgotten by history and a concert version of an early work by opera’s most popular composer, Giacomo Puccini.

Season tickets go on sale Tuesday for the company’s season, with all four presentations at St. Paul’s Ordway Music Theater. We chatted about what’s being planned with Minnesota Opera’s president and general director, Ryan Taylor.

While many Mozart fans consider “The Magic Flute” the summit of his operatic output, the three comedies he created with librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte — “The Marriage of Figaro,” “Don Giovanni” and “Così fan tutte” — might be his consummate masterpieces. And, just as “Don Giovanni” is pretty darned problematic in its treatment of women, so is “Così fan tutte,“ in which two men are talked into a wager about fidelity.

But get this: Minnesota Opera is presenting a kind of “choose your own adventure” version of “Così fan tutte.”

“Many of our artists have noted how difficult the ending of ‘Così fan tutte’ is to interpret,” Taylor said. “Frequently, cast members, directors and producers all have different opinions about the way the story comes to a conclusion. We’ve decided to give control of the ending to the audience at each performance, using technology and a group of possible endings for them to choose from.” (Nov. 1-9)

If you’re not familiar with composer Florence Price, you should be. She was a barrier-breaking African American woman who had her works performed by major American orchestras in the first half of the 20th century (including premiering a piano concerto of her own with the Chicago Symphony). But the white-male-centric classical music industry seemed to have left her behind by the time a plethora of previously undiscovered works of hers was unearthed in 2009.

Minnesota Opera will premiere a new opera about Price’s life and work, with a score by B.E. Boykin and a libretto by Twin Cities-based playwright Harrison David Rivers. They’re part of a three-composer, three-librettist New Works Initiative cohort that will be creating new operas together over the next few seasons. Renée Richardson sings the title role. (Jan. 31-Feb. 8, 2026)

Minnesota Opera seems to be edging its way back toward a four-opera season, but we’ll call it three-and-a-half, for this presentation of Giacomo Puccini’s second opera is a concert performance.

“Our operational costs are 54% higher than they were eight years ago, due to inflation and labor costs,” Taylor said. “In presenting ‘Edgar’ in a concert setting, our goal is to provide what could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience and afford audiences the opportunity to really dig into music from early in Puccini’s career.” (April 17 and 19, 2026)

One of the most earworm-suffused scores of any opera helps tell the story of a traveling theater troupe filled with jealousy and suspicion.

“Stage director Brenna Corner created a beautiful new production of ‘Pagliacci’ for [New York’s] Glimmerglass Festival last summer, and it’s been quite a while since we mounted this piece,” Taylor said. “We are also excited to welcome Won Whi Choi back to Minnesota after his incredible turns in ‘Carmen’ and ‘La bohème.’” (May 9-17, 2026)

Subscription packages are available at mnopera.org and 612-333-6669. Phone lines open at 10 a.m.

Packages range in price from $123-$809 for the full season (all four shows, including “Edgar” in concert) and $92-$783 for packages containing just the other three. Discounts also are available for audiences ages 21-45 through the “Tempo” program, running $80-$245.

Minnesota Opera also will be presenting some “first listen” opportunities for the new operas being created by its cohort of three composers and three librettists at the company’s Luminary Arts Center, with details to come in the spring.

Rob Hubbard can be reached at wordhub@yahoo.com.