Photograph by Jeff Roffman
With two pieces inspired by a World War I Christmas Eve cease fire on the Western Front, a pair of crowd favorites plus Puccini’s Tosca and bringing to life the story of the Fisk Jubilee singers, the Atlanta Opera is setting the stage for its most diverse season before moving into its new home in 2027. For its 2026-27 season, announced today, the city’s 47-year-old opera company is bringing the modern classic Silent Night to the Cobb Energy Centre; All Is Calm, a partnership with Theatrical Outfit; perennial powerhouses Carmen and The Flying Dutchman, along with Tosca; and finally, Jubilee to be presented the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center on the campus of Morehouse College.
“It’s our final season before moving into our new home [at the Molly Blank Center for Opera and the Arts],” explains Tomer Zvulun, Atlanta Opera Carl W. Knobloch Jr. general and artistic director, in an interview with Atlanta. “It’s a milestone for the company. The new venue is going to further the company mission of breaking the boundaries for opera.”
“This whole season was created in mind by this guiding vision to expand what opera can be,” he continues, “There’s epic war stories, psychological dramas, and spiritual journeys. While they focus on conflicts or war, in all these shows, there’s always the possibility that there can be friendship, love, and things that can redeem us from violence and hate.”
Photograph by Jeff Roffman
After directing a production of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Silent Night in 10 US cities and premiering it at the Wexford Festival in Ireland in 2014, Zvulun is bringing the powerful story of the 1914 Christmas Eve cease fire on the Western Front back to Atlanta from November 7-15 at the Cobb Energy Centre. “To me, this is the most powerful opera written in this century,” Zvulun says. “I’m happy to be quoted on that and happy to argue with people about that. Even if you’re not familiar with the opera, you’re familiar with the story. On Christmas Eve 1914, instead of killing each other German, Scottish and French soldiers called a cease fire to trade cigarettes, chocolate, and to play soccer together.”
In partnership with Theatrical Outfit, the Atlanta Opera will also present All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914, the off-Broadway musical of the same story in December. “I’m interested in the dialogue between art forms, in telling the same stories through different mediums,” Zvulun says of the cross-pollinating initiative. “Like our productions of Rent and La Boheme at Pullman Yards [in 2024], I think people will be curious to see both.”
Bizet’s Carmen (January 30-February 7, 2027), starring the acclaimed mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb, and Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman (March 13-21, 2027), starring three-time Grammy winner Ryan Speedo Green in the title role, are making their much-anticipated returns to the Atlanta Opera stage, along with Pucci’s Tosca (May 1-9, 2027) with Cuban-American soprano Monica Conesa in the lead role. “Tosca is beloved,” Zvulun says. “And while we’ve done both The Flying Dutchman and Carmen during my tenure here, we’re bringing them back because we have absolutely amazing casts and conductors.”
Rounding out the season is Jubilee, the story of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, an African American a cappella ensemble born on the campus of Fisk University in 1871. It will be presented in June 2027 at the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center at Morehouse College. “It’s the inspiring story of the Jubilee Singers, who went on a national tour in the aftermath of the Civil War, which then turned into an international tour when they were invited to perform for Queen Victoria,” says Zvulun. “Again, for us, it aligns with our mission of breaking the boundaries of opera.”
