(Originally published July 7, 2025.
Republished August 6, 2025, with updates.)
Incoming Artistic Director Patrick Quigley’s inaugural season at the helm of Opera Lafayette will be a bold celebration, crowning the stage with women’s voices in a fierce showcase of power and passion. The season begins with Purcell’s groundbreaking opera, Dido and Aeneas, making its long-awaited Opera Lafayette debut on Thursday, October 16, 2025, at 7:30pm at Sixth & I (600 I St NW, Washington, DC). A subsequent New York City performance will take place on Monday, October 20, 2025, at 7:30pm at El Museo del Barrio. Mary Elizabeth Williams returns to Opera Lafayette as Dido, the ill-fated Queen of Carthage, following her internationally lauded performance in last season’s Morgiane. The famously haunting aria “When I Am Laid in Earth” brings the resilient Dido to a crossroad in this woman-centered storyline, delivering an unforgettable saga of love, loss, power, and humanity. She will be joined by Elijah McCormack, male soprano, as Aeneas, and Chelsea Helm, soprano, as Belinda.
Next, just in time for Valentine’s Day, Opera Lafayette will present Queen of Hearts on Thursday, February 12, 2026, at 7:30pm at St. Francis Hall in Washington, DC, and again in New York at The Georgia Room on Saturday, February 14, at 7:30pm. Celebrate love in all its guises — sensual, humorous, chaste, and tragic — through tender ballads, amorous duets, cheeky verses, and bawdy drinking songs. Nic McGegan, Music Director Laureate of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, renowned for his musical wit, will lead Opera Lafayette chamber musicians along with Maya Kherani, soprano, and James Reese, tenor. Attendees can savor food, craft cocktails, and wine in homage to Bacchus. In Washington, DC, wine will be provided by 2023 Michelin-guide “DC Sommelier of the Year” Sarah Thompson. In New York City, signature cocktails will be provided by noted New York mixologist Alex Dominguez.
For their final production of the season, Opera Lafayette will present New Woman on Thursday, April 30, 2026, and Friday, May 1, both at 7:30pm at Sixth & I (600 I St NW, Washington, DC). A final performance will follow on Saturday, May 2 at 7:30pm at New York City’s Merkin Hall. Composers Marianna Martines and Maria Antonia Walpurgis defied 18th-century convention by putting women front and center. Grammy-nominated soprano Lauren Snouffer takes the stage in this daring solo performance reawakening Talestri, Queen of the Amazons and Berenice, Princess of Egypt. Snouffer also shines in bravura arias by Gluck and J.C. Bach, written for the era’s fiercest rival to the soprano: the castrato, an altered male singer. The storied Opera Lafayette orchestra completes this program with Haydn’s Symphony 63, “Roxelana,” an instrumental work celebrating the Sultana of the Ottoman Empire.
Season subscriptions are now on sale. Tickets and more information can be found at operalafayette.org.
About Opera Lafayette
As the only opera company performing full seasons in both DC and New York City, Opera Lafayette brings period-instrument opera from the 17th through 19th centuries to life. Since its founding in Washington, DC in 1995, Opera Lafayette has been dedicated to sharing the beauty, relevance, and historical importance of opera with modern audiences. By uncovering and performing lost and little-known works, they aim to enrich the cultural landscape with first-rate opera that might otherwise be lost to future generations.