Opera San Jose readying all-new take on ‘Romeo and Juliet’

Even as Opera San Jose is preparing to open its season-ending production of Puccini’s “Tosca” on April 15, the company under general director Shawna Lucey has announced plans for the company’s 2023-24 season.

The season — Opera San Jose’s 40th — will open with “Romeo and Juliet” (Sept. 9-24, at the California Theatre), in an all-new production of Charles Gounod’s opera, directed by Lucey. It stars tenor Joshua Sanders and soprano Melissa Sondhi in the title roles; company music director Joseph Marcheso will conduct.

The company will also present this fall “The Barber of Seville” (Nov. 11-26), with Rossini’s sparkling comedy sung by a cast featuring mezzo-soprano Nikola Printz as Rosina, tenor Joshua Sanders as the Count Almaviva, and bass-baritone Dale Travis as Dr. Bartolo. Marcheso conducts.

The 2024 productions begin with Verdi’s “Rigoletto” (Feb. 17-March 3), directed by Dan Wallace Miller and featuring baritone Eugene Brancoveanu in the dramatic title role. “Florencia En El Amazonas” follows (April 20-May 5, 2024); Crystal Manich, who helmed Opera San Jose’s award-winning 2022 production of “West Side Story,” returns to direct Daniel Catán’s opera — the company’s first-ever Spanish language work.

The company is also planning a fall 2023 production of “Zheng,” a new opera by composer Shinji Eshima and librettist Tony Asaro. The work will be presented in the Opera San Jose’s Heiman Digital Media Studio, performance dates are to be announced. Workshopped at San Francisco Opera in 2019, the dramatic opera tells the story of the late Zheng Cao, a celebrated operatic mezzo-soprano whose death from lung cancer at age 46 cut short the career of a brilliant artist.

Subscriptions to the 2023-24 season, priced from $150 to $585, are on sale now; single tickets will become available on July 5. For more information, go to operasj.org.