Philadelphia’s internationally acclaimed Academy of Vocal Arts is set to open its 2025-26 season of fully staged operas with one of the standard repertoire’s most beloved comedies: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Le nozze di Figaro” (“The Marriage of Figaro”). The production opens Nov. 8 and continues through Dec. 2, with performances in the city as well as in the nearby suburbs.

The production marks the return of conductor Joseph Colaneri, stage director Tara Faithcloth, and resident scenic designer Cameron Anderson. Faircloth and Anderson have placed the action of the opera circa 1960, at the cusp of the sexual revolution and a massive reinvention of what are regarded to be societal norms.

Mozart composed his score for “Le nozze di Figaro” on a libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte, whose own work was based on the play of the same name written by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais. “Le nozze” is the middle work of three plays focusing on the antics of Figaro, the so-called “barber” of the first play, “Il barbiere di Seville” (“The Barber of Seville”). Beaumarchais’ final offering is “La Mère coupable” (“The Guilty Mother”).

Several decades after Mozart composed “Figaro” in 1786, Gioachino Rossini composed his opus on “The Barber of Seville.” Interestingly enough, Richard Wagner regarded the Rossini as the greatest comic opera ever composed. Beaumarchais’ plays were considered so revolutionary – because a mere servant not only outwitted his master, a count, but proved himself to be the count’s moral superior – that they were initially banned throughout continental Europe.

Performances at AVA’s Warden Theater, 1920 Spruce Street in Center City are set for Nov. 8, 11, 13 & 15 at 7:30 p.m., Nov. 21 at 6 p.m. at Delaware Valley University, Nov. 23 at 4 p.m. in Lehigh University, and Dec. 2 at 7:30 p.m. the Haverford School’s Centennial Hall on the Main Line.

For ticket information call 215-735-1685 or visit avaopera.org.

The Crossing in Chestnut Hill

East Germantown’s Donald Nally led The Crossing Saturday, Oct. 18, in concert at The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill. The program, entitled “Unalienable,” was a concise hour in length and presented impeccable and impassioned interpretations of five new works that are among the most beautiful and moving I’ve ever heard in concert.

I continue to be amazed at how flawlessly Nally manages to sift through the hundreds, if not thousands, of scores he receives every year and choose works that are not only imaginative to the point of daring, but beautiful to the point of bringing tears to the eyes of his listeners.

Two of the five works performed Saturday evening were world premieres: the commissioned “Tic-Talk” by Nina Shekhar and “Let All the Strains of Joy” by Kile Smith. Smith’s “Where the Mind is Without Fear” was the roster’s second work, and Anuj Bhutani’s ‘east wind melts the ice” and Michael Gilbertson’s “Cloud Anthem” were its bookends.

At a time when so much is happening around us that even the most sanguine among us easily finds himself more than a little concerned about our society’s future cohesion and survival, Saturday evening’s concert was a hefty and reassuring dose of hope. That such ravishing new music for chorus is still being composed proves, at least to me, that the human spirit is unextinguishable. And as long as there are conductors such as Nally whose ear for pitch, tuning, blend and balance, and whose heart brims over with emotional and spiritual expressiveness, then most definitely, all is not lost.

Ballet’s Fright Nights

The Philadelphia Ballet prepared its audiences for Halloween with two programs of two pieces each that delved into the darker corners of our imaginations. “Carmen” and “Bolero” played the Academy of Music Oct. 9-12 while “Evening of Horror” took its stage Oct. 16-19.

Of the two programs, I found the second more satisfying. “Fall River Legend,” a telling of the Lizzie Borden legend, and “Valley of Death” were effective works of dance theater. Morton Gould’s score and Agnes de Mille’s choreography for the former were cinematically compelling while Juliano Nunes’s choreography to music by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Sergei Rachmaninoff was mesmerizing in the latter. In particular, Zecheng Liang’s dancing in “Valley of Death” struck the perfect combination of technical wizardry and interpretive conviction.

You can contact NOTEWORTHY at Michael-caruso@comcast.net.