Here is Göteborg Opera’s 2026/2027 Season!

A striking operatic adaptation of 1984. The hit-musical Wicked returns to the Main Stage. New productions of two Verdi operas: La Traviata and Luisa Miller, as well as Massenet’s Manon. And of course, outstanding new dance creations by leading choreographers: Sarah Baltzinger and Isaiah Wilson, Felix Landerer, Imre and Marne van Opstal, Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber – all performed by the world-renowned GöteborgsOperans Danskompani. Experience all this and more during season 2026/2027 at the Göteborg Opera.

Henning Ruhe, Artistic Director Opera/Drama:

“The theme for the new season, ‘Do you dare?’ is not a rhetorical question. We will encounter characters on stage who are at critical moments – when everything has come down to a single choice – and we will be right there with them, sitting breathless in the darkness of the auditorium. A woman who chooses love despite society’s condemnation. A man who chooses truth in a totalitarian society built on lies. A young woman who chooses to defy an entire world and become what they fear.
Like nothing else, lyric theatre can intensify and elevate existential questions via our emotions – while refusing simplistic answers. Nowhere else can we come into such close contact with the choices we ourselves may never dare to make. Desperate choices, courageous choices, reckless choices. The 2026/2027 season invites you to experience the breadth of lyric theatre – full of powerful emotions and memorable evenings to share together – La Traviata, 1984, Luisa Miller, Manon, Die Zauberflöte, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Wicked. As varied as life itself, each of them asking us: Do you dare?”

Katrín Hall, Artistic Director GöteborgsOperans Danskompani:

“Welcome to a dance season shaped by encounters between past and present, the familiar and the unknown. We will deepen long-term collaborations while nurturing future voices, and welcome new choreographers to create together with us. We continue to be a company that dares to take risks, explore new forms, and develop our relationship with audiences. We must constantly challenge ourselves to maintain our position as a leading company in our field. This season, a new step for us will be to present our first world premiere of the season not at our home stage in Gothenburg, but in Ludwigshafen – with a new work by rising stars Sarah Baltzinger and Isaiah Wilson. In addition, we will get to know Felix Landerer more closely. We welcome back Imre and Marne van Opstal, as well as Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber, with new creations. The season also includes much-loved revivals and extensive touring – including eight (!) performances of Alexander Ekman’s Hammer in Paris.”

• The full repertoire and further details about each production, casts and artistic teams: opera.se/en/2026-2027
• Press photos: https://opera.qbank.se/mb/?h=5c14cb66ddffae9591f19cfcd72d9250
• Tickets available from 4 March at 10.00am
• For press enquiries, please contact: press@opera.se, Marie Branner: +46 31 108 035, Emil Rinstad: +46 31 108 068

SELECTION BY GENRE:

OPERA/MUSICAL

La Traviata. Verdi. Contemporary touches meet historical elegance in this new production of one of the most loved operas in the repertoire. The costumes have influences from the Baroque, the Italian mafia and carnival. Violetta is sung by the acclaimed soprano Ida Falk Winland. Conductor: Aivis Greters, director: Silvia Paoli. La Traviata has been selected for the prestigious Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland, where it will premiere in summer 2026, before opening the season in Gothenburg on 12 September 2026.

1984. In this opera, based on George Orwell’s 1949 novel, the dystopian world of Oceania is brought to life through music that is by turns brutal and tender, proceeding at a cinematic pace. It is a merciless operatic experience that refuses to let go. 1984 was composed by Lorin Maazel, one of the twentieth century’s leading conductors, and had its premiere at Covent Garden in 2005. Our production comes from Theater Regensburg, named ‘Theatre of the Year’ in Germany in 2025. Winston and Julia are sung by Jonah Spungin and Susanna Stern. Conductor: Tobias Ringborg. Director, costume design, light design: Sebastian Ritschel.
Premiere: 31 October 2026.

Luisa Miller. Luisa Miller has fallen in love with Rodolfo, a man from the upper classes. Luisa’s father defends his daughter’s right to decide whom she wants to spend her life with, but power is all that matters to Rodolfo’s father, so he resists their romance. Is their love strong enough to resist wealth and power? The setting for this new Verdi production is aboard a private yacht. Luisa and her father are part of the crew, where the boundary between the staff below decks and the opulence of the glittering salons above is as clearly defined as the difference between control and freedom. The title role is sung by the rising Swedish star Matilda Sterby. Conductor: Vincenzo Milletarì. Director: Ilaria Lanzino.
Premiere: 27 February 2027.

Manon. We follow Manon from the day she is sent to a convent as a young girl all the way to her final moments. In between unfolds a story involving desire, love, decadence, double-standards – and the choice between freedom or security. Manon is a French "grand opéra" by Jules Massenet, written in the same late-Romantic style as his later work Thaïs. The elegant, nuanced music features grand choral scenes – capturing Manon’s complexity and humanity. In the title role, we see the acclaimed soprano Kersin Avemo. This production is directed by Eirik Stubø, who has been acclaimed for his ability to craft convincing characters with psychological depth. Conductor: Sébastien Rouland.
Premiere 2 May 2027.

Marital Secrets. Two rarely performed operas meet. In the tragicomic On the Harmfulness of Tobacco (originally a monologue by Anton Chekhov), a lecturer strays from his assigned topic. Instead of recounting the dangers of tobacco, he begins to speak ever more candidly about his marriage. In the comedy Il segreto di Susanna (Susanna’s Secret), the same husband senses the unfamiliar smell of tobacco at home. Does his wife have a lover who smokes? The couple is drawn into a playful marital dance, where they are taken from isolation to togetherness via an entertaining round of suspicion, revelation and reconciliation.
Premiere 11 September 2026.

Revivals:

• Wicked. he largest-ever production of Wicked returns! The Göteborg Opera’s acclaimed staging swept the audience off their feet during its first run, playing to sold-out houses and seen by over 110,000 people (3 October 2026).

• Die Zauberflöte. In this production of The Magic Flute (sold out last season), we are transported to a spectacular dreamscape filled with fanciful animated illusions by French video designer Grégoire Pont. Director: James Bonas. Conductor: Michael Balke (3 December 2026).

• Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Created in 2021, the minimal yet vibrant set places the spotlight firmly on the characters and on Rossini’s dazzling music, with its breathtaking coloratura, elegant ensemble pieces and infectious joy. Conductor: Sascha Yankevych. Original director: Rodula Gaitanou (18 March 2027)

DANCE

See you Sunday & The Promise. A dance evening about recognising and rediscovering. In Sarah Baltzinger’s and Isaiah Wilson’s dance work See You Sunday, new worlds open up: skewed, humorous and intensely physical. The work will have its world premiere with GöteborgsOperans Danskompani in Ludwigshafen, Germany, in October 2026. In The Promise, Felix Landerer explores the tensions and contradictions between the real moments that slip past as we yearn for something elsewhere, and those we try to hold onto while knowing deep-down that life is constantly changing.

Premiere/World premiere 13 November 2026.

Bare State. Spring’s double-bill presents two world premieres by choreographers who have already made a strong impact in Gothenburg: Imre and Marne van Opstal, and Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber. The van Opstal siblings have become increasingly regarded as a choreographic duo with a powerful physical language. Their creation for Bare State will be the third piece they have made for GöteborgsOperans Danskompani. When choreographers Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber created I Cannot Love Without Trembling for the dance company a few years ago, the response was emphatic, described as “extraordinarily beautiful and moving” (Svenska Dagbladet) and “brilliant” (Dagens Nyheter).
World premiere 29 January 2027.

Revivals:

• Hammer. Alexander Ekman’s full-length work in two acts, performed by the entire company, is Göteborg Opera Dance Company’s greatest audience success to date. Since its world premiere in 2022, it has been presented at many of the world’s leading dance venues in Europe and Asia. Eight performances in Paris in March. Two performances on the home stage (10–24 April 2027).

• Past the Point. The successful pairing of Marcos Morau’s darkly comic theatrical piece Cold Song and Botis Seva’s hip hop–rooted social commentary We Made a Mess! — which had its world premiere in February 2026 — returns for four performances (14–29 April 2027).

CONCERTS – Symphonies and Intimate Encounters

From Melancholy to Madness. Max Bruch: Swedish Dances; Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26. Jules Massenet: Suite No. 4, Scènes pittoresques. Joseph Canteloube: Songs of the Auvergne, selection. Maurice Ravel: Boléro. Conductor: Sébastien Rouland. Vocal soloist: Sofie Asplund. Violin soloist: David Bergström. With the Göteborg Opera Orchestra. 20 September 2026.

From Myth to Nordic Light. Mozart’s Flute Concerto and Sibelius’s First Symphony. Mozart’s elegance and Sibelius’s power ignite a spark in the darkness - an autumn concert filled with melancholy and imagination. Conductor: Aivis Greters. Vocal soloist: Ann-Kristin Jones. Flute soloist: Fauna Buvat. 22 November 2026.

Spring Night in Vienna. Music connected to Vienna across three centuries: Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik, led by violinist Benjamin Schmid; songs by Franz Schubert arranged for chamber orchestra by Max Reger; and Korngold’s Violin Concerto. With the Göteborg Opera Orchestra. Conductor: Aivis Greters. Violin soloist: Benjamin Schmid. Vocal soloist: Hannes Öberg. 18 April 2027.

Grandi Voci. A close-up with internationally acclaimed tenor Joachim Bäckström. At Göteborg Opera he has appeared in leading roles such as Peter Grimes, Hoffmann and Don José in Carmen. In summer 2026 he will perform Strauss and Wagner at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. Pianist: Karin Holm. 27 September 2026.

INTERNATIONAL TOURS AND GUEST PERFORMANCES

Dance: GöteborgsOperans Danskompani continues its successful international touring. The company will perform in Tenerife, 11–14 July 2026; Ludwigshafen (Germany), 9–11 October; and after the New Year in Paris, 6–14 March; London, 12–15 May; Cologne, 20–21 May; Mulhouse (France), 25–26 May; and Madrid, 31 May–1 June 2027.

Opera: La Traviata & Norma. Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra from the Göteborg Opera will appear at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland with four performances of Verdi’s opera La Traviata and two concert performances of Bellini’s opera Norma, featuring American star soprano Lisette Oropesa. Conductor (Norma): Carlo Frizza. 27 July – 1 August 2026.

Concert: The Göteborg Opera Orchestra will perform at the Grosses Festspielhaus in Salzburg, presenting Max Bruch’s Swedish Dances and Violin Concerto No. 1, as well as Sibelius’ Symphony No. 1. Conductor: Aivis Greters. 12–13 November 2026.

CHILDREN AND FAMILY

Merry Christmas? Step into the festive spirit with the opera’s new Christmas production for the whole family – filled with seasonal favourites, classical music and a story which might ring a bell or two. Through classic Christmas songs, opera and newly composed music, a dreamlike atmosphere takes shape for audiences both young and old. A one-act Christmas production by Annika Lindqvist, David Lundqvist and Åke Zetterström. Music by various composers. Newly written music by Per Larsson.
Premiere 12 December 2026.

Gold! A poor boy catches a magical golden fish, who promises to grant his every wish if the boy just lets him go. The boy delays as his parents begin making ever-more extravagant wishes. With each new wish, the fish grows weaker and the waves keep on rising. Gold! tells a story of getting everything and still not being satisfied – and what being “rich” really means. A one-act opera by Leonard Evers (b. 1985). Libretto by Flora Verbrugge, based on The Fisherman and His Wife by the Brothers Grimm.
Premiere 7 February 2027.

Revivals:

• Hillary the Witch Goes to the Opera. A playful, exciting performance about opera, recommended for families with children aged 5–10 (31 October 2026)

• The Quest for the Magical Key. A warm-hearted and engaging family adventure filled with well-known operatic music. Can the children help set the music free once more? A one-act family concert by Anelia Kadieva Jonsson. Music by various composers. Conductor: Lars Kvensler (16 February 2027)

In addition: Open House, Discover Opera, Relaxed Performance, Dance with Baby, Family Dance, Opera in Schools, workshops with the dance company, and much more.