Single tickets now on sale for Detroit Opera’s “America at 250” season
- John Sloan III
- Aug 4
- 4 min read
DETROIT, July 28, 2025 – Single tickets are now on sale for Detroit Opera’s 25/26 season, featuring opera and dance programs that explore American identity as the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026. Stars of American Ballet will open the fall dance season with performances on October 18 and 19 featuring ballets by iconic American choreographers George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Gerald Arpino, and Twyla Tharp. The opera season will open with Highways and Valleys—Two American Love Stories, featuring two rarely performed works about working people living at America’s margins: William Grant Still’s Highway 1, USA and Kurt Weill’s Down in the Valley, on December 7, 11, and 13.
In addition, tickets are now on sale for newly programmed Detroit Opera House Presents performances, including Detroit Story Fest, Raphael Saadiq, and Bugs Bunny at the Symphony.
Tickets for all opera and dance performances may be purchased in person at the box office (1526 Broadway Street, Detroit), by phone (313.237.7464), or online at detroitopera.org. This season, Detroit Opera will continue to offer $25 rush tickets for City of Detroit residents, available at the box office starting the Monday before any opera or dance performance (two tickets per government-issued ID indicating a Detroit address). Military and first-responder discounts of 50 percent off any opera or dance performance are available by phone or in person at the box office, up to two tickets per ID. Student rush tickets ($25, two tickets per current student ID) are available for students 18 and older, at the box office the day of any opera or dance performance.
Group discounts for groups of 10 or more are available for all opera and dance performances; for details email groupsales@detroitopera.org or download the group sales brochure.
All opera and dance ticketholders may attend free pre-performance talks by directors, choreographers, conductors, and artists. Additional community events for each opera and dance presentation will be announced throughout the season.
25/26 Opera Season
The 25/26 opera season will consist of American works that offer an alternative view of what it means to be American, alongside European composers who have made America the subject of their operas. Through the medium of opera, Detroit Opera will examine the enduring tensions and transformations that have defined the nation, as well as how the ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence have echoed through the centuries. Three opera productions invite audiences to participate in a dialogue around the question: “Has America at 250 lived up to its promise?” The opera season kicks off in December with William Grant Still’s Highway 1, USA and Kurt Weill’s Down in the Valley—both featuring stories about working people living at America’s margins. Also planned are the dystopian fantasy of Poul Ruders’s 1998 opera The Handmaid’s Tale in March and Apartment House 1776, a one-of-a-kind immersive experience realizing John Cage’s utopian vision of American cultural coexistence, in May.
Highway 1, USA
Music by William Grant Still
Libretto by Verna Arvey
Down in the Valley
Music by Kurt Weill
Libretto by Arnold Sundgaard
Highways and Valleys—Two American Love Stories is a double-bill combining voices often excluded from the operatic mainstream: William Grant Still, the “dean of African American music,” and the Jewish émigré Kurt Weill. From their marginalized positions in American society, both composers sought out the heart of American folk music and brought it into the world of opera.
Music by Poul Ruders
Libretto by Paul Bentley
Based on the novel by Margaret Atwood
Concept by John Cage
Directed by Yuval Sharon
25/26 Dance @ Detroit Opera Season
The 25/26 dance season features American dance companies and American choreographers who created new vocabularies for dance. Three major forces of American dance include George Balanchine, the father of American ballet; Tony Award-winning Broadway choreographer Bob Fosse; and Paul Taylor, a pioneer of American modern dance. They each created a new vocabulary for dance, uniquely their own, and uniquely American. Their works and influences will be seen throughout the season.
From ballet to contemporary to modern, the 25/26 dance season is a celebration of what American dance has contributed to this important artform.
Stars of American Ballet Daniel Ulbricht, Founder and Artistic Director
Saturday, Oct. 18, 7:30pm
Sunday, Oct. 19, 2:30pm
Robert Garland, Artistic Director
Saturday, Nov. 15, 7:30pm
Sunday, Nov. 16, 2:30pm
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell, Artistic Director
Saturday, Jan. 24, 7:30pm
Sunday, Jan. 25, 2:30pm
Paul Taylor Dance Company Michael Novak, Artistic Director
Saturday, April 11, 7:30pm
Sunday, April 12, 2:30pm
Detroit Opera House Presents
Detroit Opera House Presents, a new initiative to bring additional programming to our Detroit audience, will launch on October 9 with Detroit Story Fest, a night of performance art and storytelling by and for the people of the Motor City. Story Fest ushers in Detroit Opera’s season-long “America at 250” exploration of American identity as the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026. The curated live-storytelling event, in partnership with Back Pocket Media and sponsored by the Knight Foundation, will feature local stories about migration in America, told live onstage of the Detroit Opera House by award-winning journalists, filmmakers, and artists from Detroit. The evening will include performances by rising opera stars from Detroit Opera’s Resident Artist Program. Tickets to Story Fest may be purchased by phone, in person at the box office, and at detroitopera.org.
Following a sold-out run this summer, Grammy-award-winning legend Raphael Saadiq will bring his highly-acclaimed one-man show No Bandwidth: One Man, One Night, Three Decades of Hits to the Detroit Opera House on October 11.
Bugs Bunny at the Symphony 35th Anniversary Edition, on April 18 and 19, celebrates Bugs Bunny’s 85th—and this cherished concert’s 35th—anniversaries. More than a dozen beloved animated Looney Tunes shorts are projected live on screen while the Detroit Opera Orchestra plays the original scores live.
