The LYRIC SEASON COMPANION and COMMENTARIES ON CD thoroughly explore the operas of Lyric’s 54th season: Massenet’s Manon, Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers, Berg’s Lulu, Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, and Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio.

The Dallas Opera will keep the entertainment coming during the "off-season" with a series of low cost and free events designed to keep North Texas Opera lovers excited about their favorite art form while exploring new opportunities and horizons.

This August, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh will take the extraordinary step of closing down THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, the longest-running show in Broadway history, for four performances to install a brand-new Digital Sound System to bring the production's sound design technology into the 21st Century.

Kentucky Opera ’s 2008 Brown-Forman Fall Season opens September 26 & 28 th with Giuseppe Verdi’s Otello . Just three weeks ago Stephen O’Mara, the tenor scheduled to perform the title role, announced his retirement effective at the end of May. With a mere three months before rehearsals, Kentucky Opera’s general director, David Roth , went into overdrive.

Opera Carolina introduces a new ticketing plan for the 2008/2009 Opera Season. Subscription Packages range from single opera to five-opera plans that include all four mainstage productions and the Love Notes Valentine’s Concert. The Opera 5 and Opera 4 plans offer a Subscriber Advantage that includes guaranteed seating from year-to-year and placement on the priority list to change seats or subscription day.

Three of the world’s top fashion designers will create costumes for Renee Fleming for the Metropolitan Opera’s opening night gala on Monday, September 22. Fashion legends John Galliano, Christian Lacroix, and Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel will each design costumes for the star soprano, who will sing three of her most acclaimed roles in fully staged selections from Verdi’s La Traviata (Act II), Massenet’s Manon (Act III), and Strauss’s Capriccio (final scene).

Grubb Properties and Opera Carolina will forge a unique relationship in August. For every residence sold at the new-urban Morrison neighborhood in South Park, Grubb Properties will donate 2% of the sale price to Opera Carolina. This unique partnership will be celebrated in an Opera On My Mind Subscriber Appreciation event held at one of Morrison’s luxury condos, on August 24.

American Opera Projects will celebrate 20 years of commissioning, developing and producing original works in the 2008-2009 season. Following are a few season highlights. Composers & the Voice: 6 Scenes by six rising, young composers October 3-4, 2008, 8 PM Composers & the Voice, AOP's year-long emerging composer training program, culminates with concert readings from six operas-in-development.

Hot on the heels of the sold out, critically acclaimed Summer Season 2008, Opera New Jersey announces that internationally-renowned opera star Ruth Ann Swenson will star in their February 2009 production of Die Fledermaus! Ms. Swenson will sing the leading role of Rosalinde for the first time in her career in this production, to be performed in Princeton, New Brunswick and Morristown.

Florentine Opera Company General Director William Florescu announced today the upcoming 2008-2009 season: Puccini's heartbreakingly beautiful classic, Madama Butterfly; Handel's Baroque drama Semele, and Mozart's popular comedic masterpiece, The Magic Flute.

Opera Carolina's 2008/2009 Season features old favorites with new twists. Including some of the most beloved composers of all time, Opera Carolina's upcoming season will feature the most memorable characters in all of Opera sung by a diverse cast of internationally acclaimed performing artists.

The Buffalo Philharmonic is pleased to announce that Wendy’s will once again sponsor their Family Series concerts. The 2008/2009 season will be the 10th consecutive season that Wendy’s will be the sponsor. “Wendy’s is proud to once again sponsor the BPO family series concerts, we feel that introducing young children to classical music is a staple of their educational growth.” said Richard Fox, of Wendy’s.