Austin Opera 2026-27 Season: Ofrenda

Austin Opera is opening its 2026-27 season with a world premiere, Ofrenda, which runs October 1-11 at the Sarah and Ernest Butler Performance Center. It's a bilingual chamber opera with music by Jorge Sosa and a libretto by John de los Santos, starring Stephanie Sanchez and Victoria Vargas. Sosa conceived the piece during the pandemic as a work about healing and essential workers, drawing on Mexican curanderas and infused with magical realism. It's also the company's first ever commissioned opera.

Ofrenda is the inaugural production for the Sarah and Ernest Butler Performance Center, Austin Opera's first permanent home. The company bought the 16,000-square-foot building in Southeast Austin in June 2024 for $4.5 million and retrofitted it, naming it after longtime supporters following an $8.5 million campaign that has raised $6.4 million so far. Inside, there's a 190-seat theater with retractable seating, four rehearsal rooms, a conference center, and both indoor and outdoor spaces. The company plans to rent the facility to other arts groups, and it'll host smaller productions, rehearsals, and educational programs, while the major shows continue at the Long Center.

The rest of the season brings the bigger productions back to the Long Center. Massenet's Thaïs stars Nicole Heaston and Troy Cook, conducted by Timothy Myers. Greg Spears' Fellow Travelers comes to town on a national tour. And Verdi's La traviata stars Sara Gartland, Kameron Lopreore, and Joo Won Kang, conducted by Timothy Myers and directed by E. Loren Meeker.

If you want to see the new space before the season officially kicks off, there's a free Community Day on Saturday, September 26, from 2 to 6 PM at the Sarah and Ernest Butler Performance Center, 5811 Trade Center Drive in Southeast Austin, with a ribbon-cutting at 3 PM. Ofrenda follows on October 1.