Cinderella

OPERA San Antonio opens its 2026-2027 season with Cinderella at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, with performances on Thursday, October 15 and Saturday, October 17. The production is Rossini's La Cenerentola, a new staging borrowed from the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. It's sung in Italian, with English translations projected above the stage.

If you're thinking of the Disney version, this isn't it. There's no fairy godmother, no pumpkin carriage, and no glass slipper. Instead, it's a story about a heroine whose kindness, intelligence, and determination change her own future. The staging takes its visual cues from filmmaker Wes Anderson, so expect colorful costumes and playful theatrical details. Rossini's comedy premiered in Rome in 1817 with a libretto by Jacopo Ferretti, and it's still one of the most celebrated examples of opera buffa.

The cast features mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack as Angelina, tenor Victor Robertson as Prince Ramiro, baritone Will Liverman as Dandini, and Patrick Carfizzi as Don Magnifico. Francesco Milioto conducts The Orchestra San Antonio, and the production is staged by director Michael Shell. The performances take place in the H-E-B Performance Hall, inside the Tobin Center at 100 Auditorium Circle.

Both shows start at 7:30 PM, and general admission tickets start at $24. If you want a bit more context before the curtain goes up, there are free pre-show lectures an hour before each performance in the center's Feik Rotunda.