For Immediate Release

Press Contacts: Larry Meehan lmeehan@bostonusa.com direct line for media: 617-867-8231; Stacy Shreffler, Media Relations & Tourism Sales Manager, direct line: 617-867-8203 / email: sshreffler@BostonUSA.com; Mia Howard, Marketing and Communications Manager of BLO, phone: (617) 542-4912, ext. 240 / email:mhoward@blo.org

Boston Lyric Opera’s 2008-2009 Season

Spellbound

Anything can happen

Les contes d’Hoffmann

(The Tales of Hoffmann)

by Jacques Offenbach

(November 7–18, 2008)

Rusalka

by Antonín Dvorák

(March 20–31, 2009)

Don Giovanni

by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

(April 24–May 5, 2009)

Boston, MA — Boston Lyric Opera (BLO) is pleased to announce its 2008-2009 Season which features Jacques Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann November 7-18, 2008, Antonín Dvorák’s Rusalka March 20–31, 2009, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Don Giovanni April 24-May 5, 2009.

“We are excited to present a wonderfully varied season of masterpieces featuring one rarely-performed, one less frequently performed, and one well-known opera. All three productions are new to Boston audiences and will entice and mesmerize opera aficionados and newcomers,” said BLO General Director Janice Mancini Del Sesto. “Audiences will be captivated by visually and musically stunning operas that enhance these tales of obsessive love and its consequences. We invite everyone to enter ‘other-worldly’ dimensions where anything can happen with these unforgettable and spellbinding characters.”

BLO’s 2008-2009 Season features several important debuts and many happy returns including Academy Award winner and Tony and Emmy Awards nominee Eric Simonson, Stage Director for Rusalka; the director/design team of Renaud Doucet and André Barbe for Hoffmann; conductors Anthony Barrese, Keith Lockhart and Ari Pelto; and singers John Cheek, Kimwana Doner, Bryan Hymel, Georgia Jarman, Gaetan Laperriere, Marquita Lister, Nancy Maultsby, Gerard Powers, and Christopher Schaldenbrand. (Click here for 2008-2009 season photos)

All 2008-2009 mainstage productions will be performed in the Company’s home, the Shubert Theatre of the Citi Performing Arts Center, 265 Tremont Street in Boston’s Theatre District. In spring 2009, BLO will present Mozart’s The Magic Flute for school children and families throughout New England.

This season is supported in part by The Calderwood Charitable Foundation and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Subscription and Ticket Information

• Season tickets go on sale to the public on May 1, 2008 with prices starting at $93. Subscribe online at www.blo.org/subscribe or call Audience Services at (617) 542-6772 for a brochure.

• Single tickets for Les contes d’Hoffmann, Rusalka and Don Giovanni go on sale to the public on October 1, 2008 with prices starting at $33. Single tickets will be sold exclusively through Telecharge.com at (800) 447-7400, www.telecharge.com or in person at the Citi Performing Arts Center, 270 Tremont Street in Boston.

• Discounts on group tickets are available to groups of ten or more by calling Audience Services at (617) 542-6772.

• Half price student tickets are available in advance and day of show at the Shubert Theatre box office with a valid student ID.

For more information and updates on Boston Lyric Opera’s 2008-2009 Season, adult education programs and special events please visit www.blo.org.

Boston Lyric Opera (BLO) is New England’s favorite opera company. Founded in 1976, BLO is recognized for its

artistically excellent productions of a diverse repertoire that entertain and inspire audiences and which feature emerging

operatic talent. Its mainstage productions at the Shubert Theatre of the Citi Performing Arts Center, live broadcasts on

WGBH radio and its traveling production of a fully staged, one-hour English version of a popular opera for school children

and families reach some 200,000 people a year. Boston Lyric Opera’s programs are funded, in part, by grants from the

Massachusetts Cultural Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. www.blo.org