Familiar titles will fill Lyric Opera’s 70th season in Kansas City
The Lyric Opera of Kansas City will celebrate its 70th season with a lineup at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts consisting of four familiar titles culminating with a new, locally built production of Verdi’s “Aida.”
In addition to “Aida,” the schedule announced Monday includes Puccini’s “La Bohème,” Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” and Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Pirates of Penzance.” The Lyric Opera has previously staged all three at the Kauffman Center — “La Bohème” in 2019, “The Marriage of Figaro” in 2016 and “The Pirates of Penzance” in 2017. The Lyric Opera produced an earlier version of “Aida” in 2007 at the Lyric Theatre.
Deborah Sandler Kemper, the Lyric Opera’s general director and CEO, said in a release: “This season’s productions span a dynamic breadth of operatic expression, from Mozart’s signature opera, ‘Marriage of Figaro,’ to the Victorian comic opera of ‘The Pirates of Penzance,’ to Puccini’s influential story of the Paris art scene, ‘La Bohème,’ to a brand-new production, made in KC, of Verdi’s unforgettable masterpiece, ‘Aida.’”
Subscription-renewal packets will be mailed in early April, and individual tickets will go on sale in mid-July. Season-ticket packages are $105-$684. More information is at kcopera.org. All shows are at the Kauffman Center.
Lyric Opera of Kansas City 2026-27 season
‘La Bohème’
7:30 p.m. Sept. 19 and 25, 2 p.m. Sept. 27
This tragic portrait of friendship and romance centers on a seamstress and her artist friends who lead a Bohemian lifestyle in 19th-century Paris.
‘The Marriage of Figaro’
7:30 p.m. Nov. 7 and 13, 2 p.m. Nov 15
Considered one of the greatest operas, “The Marriage of Figaro” combines comedy with romance as it tells the story of servants Figaro and Susanna on their wedding day.
‘The Pirates of Penzance’
7:30 p.m. Feb. 20 and 26, 2 p.m. Feb. 28, 2027
Clever wordplay and catchy cadences on songs such as “The Very Model of a Modern Major General” highlight this comic operetta set on the high seas.
‘Aida’
7:30 p.m. April 24 and 30, 2 p.m. May 2, 2027
Aida is a prisoner of war who hides her identity as the princess of Ethiopia while she and Egyptian general Radamès embark on a forbidden romance in this tragic love story by Giuseppe Verdi.
