50 Year Anniversary Season

Piedmont Opera's 50th Anniversary Season Brings Renée Fleming, Beloved Classics, and New American Masterworks to the Triad

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Piedmont Opera will celebrate its 50th Anniversary Season with an ambitious lineup of performances and special events that honor five decades of artistic excellence while charting a bold course for the future. The milestone season features internationally acclaimed soprano Renée Fleming, landmark North Carolina premieres of Another Sunrise and Before It All Goes Dark by Grammy Award-winning composer Jake Heggie and Pulitzer Prize-winning librettist Gene Scheer. The season concludes with a newly envisioned production of Rossini's beloved comedy, The Barber of Seville, with a set that’s inspired by the cartoons that first introduced many of us to Rossini.

Designed to reflect the company's enduring commitment to artistic innovation, community engagement, and cultural leadership, the 50^th Anniversary Season brings together world-renowned artists, meaningful partnerships, and transformative storytelling.

"This season embodies everything Piedmont Opera has become over the last fifty years," said Joseph Mechavich, General Director at Piedmont Opera. "It celebrates our history, honors our community, and demonstrates the extraordinary power of opera to connect people through shared experiences. We are proud to mark this milestone with artists and programs that inspire conversation, reflection, joy, and discovery."

Music and Mind with Renée Fleming: Harnessing the Arts to Heal & Connect

September 18, 2026, at 5:00 p.m.

Hanes Auditorium, Salem Academy and College, Winston-Salem, NC

Presented in partnership with Novant Health, Flow Automotive and Salem Academy and College

Five-time Grammy Award-winning soprano Renée Fleming, curator of the groundbreaking anthology Music and Mind, leads an inspiring symposium exploring the powerful connection between the arts and health.

Featuring a panel of experts, this special event opens Piedmont Opera's 50^th Anniversary Season with a dynamic discussion on how the power of music and creativity can enhance mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Presented in partnership with Novant Health, Flow Automotive, and Salem Academy and College, the symposium will offer audiences a unique opportunity to engage with one of the nation's foremost voices in arts and health.

Renée Fleming in Concert: Voice of Nature—The Anthropocene

Presented in partnership with Novant Health, Flow Automotive and Salem Academy and College

September 19, 2026, at 7:30 p.m.

Hanes Auditorium, Salem Academy and College, Winston-Salem, NC

Fleming returns to the stage for an extraordinary concert experience drawn from her acclaimed collaboration with National Geographic. Combining music, imagery, and storytelling, the program explores humanity's relationship with the natural world and examines themes of environmental change, scientific discovery, and our shared future.

More than a traditional recital, this immersive performance invites audiences to experience the intersection of art and science through one of opera's most beloved voices.

The concert will be presented at Salem College, the nation's oldest educational institution for women, whose historic campus provides a fitting setting for an evening that celebrates discovery, learning, and the enduring connection between culture and knowledge. The partnership highlights two of Winston-Salem's most distinguished institutions coming together to offer a unique artistic experience for the community.

Heggie and Scheer’s Another Sunrise and Before It All Goes Dark

November 12 at 7:30 p.m., November 14 at 7:30 p.m., November 15 at 3 p.m., November 17 at 7:30 p.m., November 20 at 7:30 p.m., and November 22 at 3 p.m., Hanesbrands Theatre, Winston-Salem, NC

At the heart of Piedmont Opera’s 50th Anniversary Season is a landmark production celebrating Grammy Award-winning composer Jake Heggie and Pulitzer Prize-winning librettist Gene Scheer, two of contemporary American opera’s most acclaimed creators.

Making their North Carolina premieres, the one-act operas Another Sunrise and Before It All Goes Dark explore memory, resilience, and survival in the aftermath of the Holocaust, offering a powerful meditation on remembrance, humanity, and hope.

The production features North Carolina-based artists, with Tonya McKinny serving as stage director and acclaimed bass-baritone Ryan McKinny creating innovative projections. The show will be presented at the Hanesbrands Theatre, operated by the Arts Council of Winston-Salem & Forsyth County, the nation's first arts council.

Piedmont Opera is proud to partner with local Jewish organizations, Holocaust education leaders, academic institutions, Wake Forest University and the North Carolina Council on the Holocaust. The festival extends beyond the stage through panel discussions, educational programming, and curriculum resources supporting North Carolina's Holocaust education requirements, fostering meaningful dialogue about history, remembrance, and human resilience.  Funding was provided by the Tri-M Foundation.

Piedmont Opera & Camel City Jazz Orchestra Present Valentine's Day with The Great American Songbook

February 13 at 7 p.m. and February 14 at 1 p.m. at The Millennium Event Center, Winston-Salem, N.C.

Piedmont Opera joins forces with the Camel City Jazz Orchestra for a Valentine's celebration of The Great American Songbook at the Millennium Event Center. Presented as a series of elegant dinner and brunch performances, this special collaboration brings together the richness of jazz and the power of the operatic voice in an unforgettable tribute to America's most cherished standards.

Rossini's The Barber of Seville at High Point Theatre, High Point, N.C.

March 19, 2027, at 7:30 PM & March 21, 2027, at 3:00 PM

The anniversary season ends on a high note with one of opera's greatest comedies, The Barber of Seville. Laugh-out-loud funny and filled with unforgettable characters and infectious melodies, this fresh, colorful production features a whimsical new set. Created in partnership with Charleston Opera Theater, the set evokes the zany spirit of The Rabbit of Seville, the classic Bugs Bunny cartoon that introduced generations of Americans to Rossini's unforgettable music and made the opera's overture one of classical music's most recognizable tunes. It's the perfect finale to a season celebrating Piedmont Opera's remarkable past and its exciting future.

The 50th Anniversary Season reflects the full breadth of Piedmont Opera's mission, from beloved operatic masterpieces to innovative contemporary works. Each event underscores the organization's commitment to artistic excellence, meaningful partnerships, community-centered dialogue, and broad public access to the performing arts.

As Piedmont Opera enters its next half-century, the 50^th Anniversary Season stands as both a celebration of what has been accomplished and a statement of what lies ahead.

Piedmont Opera receives operational funding from the North Carolina Arts Council and

The Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County.

Tickets for the Renée Fleming concert and season tickets go on sale on August 3, 2026. Visit PiedmontOperaAt50.org for more information and additional programming details or call 336.725.7101.

####