The Wiener Staatsoper has presented its 2026–27 season, outlining a programme that combines new productions of rarely staged works, long-absent titles, and a broad repertory spanning more than four centuries.
The season, shaped under director Bogdan Roščić, continues to reflect Vienna’s repertory model, where new productions coexist with a large number of returning works performed throughout the year.
New productions: between rediscovery and core repertoire
The new season will include six opera premieres, balancing canonical works with less frequently performed titles.
A new staging of Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss will open the premiere programme. Conducted by Franz Welser-Möst and directed by Barrie Kosky, the production marks their first collaboration at the house and is scheduled to premiere on 22 November 2026. The cast includes Golda Schultz, Kate Lindsey, Serena Sáenz and Daniel Behle.
Among the most notable additions is La damnation de Faust by Hector Berlioz, a work that, according to the house, has not previously been performed at the Staatsoper.
The programme also includes a new double bill pairing Eine florentinische Tragödie by Alexander Zemlinsky with Bluebeard’s Castle by Béla Bartók, bringing back a work absent from the house for decades.
Italian repertoire is represented by Un ballo in maschera by Giuseppe Verdi, which returns in a new production after a long absence from the theatre’s staging cycle.
The season further includes Pique Dame by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and I Capuleti e i Montecchi by Vincenzo Bellini, expanding the stylistic range from Italian bel canto to late Romantic Russian repertoire.
Taken together, the premieres suggest a programming strategy that prioritises both rediscovery and renewal within the existing repertoire.
A repertory system in full scale
Alongside the new productions, the Staatsoper will present more than 60 works across the season, continuing its traditional repertory structure.
The programme includes a wide range of returning titles, from Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Le nozze di Figaro to Wagner’s Parsifal and Tristan und Isolde, as well as core Italian works such as La traviata, Tosca and Madama Butterfly.
German and Austrian repertoire remains central, with regular performances of Der Rosenkavalier and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, reinforcing the house’s historical identity.
This coexistence of styles and periods—often presented on consecutive evenings—is a defining feature of Vienna’s programming model.
Conductors and singers
The season brings together a mix of house conductors and international guests, including Franz Welser-Möst, Bertrand de Billy, Alexander Soddy, Axel Kober and Pablo Heras-Casado.
Among the singers announced for the season are Elīna Garanča, Ermonela Jaho, Piotr Beczała, Sondra Radvanovsky and Jonas Kaufmann, alongside a broader international cast appearing across the repertory.
Continuity and programming logic
In his introduction to the season booklet, Roščić emphasises that the Staatsoper remains a “Repertoire-Theater”, presenting a wide cross-section of operatic history alongside its premieres.
Within this framework, the choice of new productions reflects a balance between introducing works not previously staged in Vienna, reintroducing titles absent for decades, and revisiting central repertoire through new interpretations.
Rather than proposing a single thematic concept, the 2026–27 season continues to operate as a large-scale repertory system, where different styles, periods, and aesthetic approaches coexist across the calendar.
This article was produced by the Moto Perpetuo editorial team.
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