Human and animal worlds collide in Leoš Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen, an enchanting, cinematic modern fable about a clever vixen who tries to outwit her captors. Music Director Roberto Kalb conducts, and Artistic Director Yuval Sharon directs his production from The Cleveland Orchestra, which uses playful projections to transform singers into forest creatures, with hand-crafted animations that evoke the fable’s comic- strip origins. “We are inviting the audience into a deeper reflection of how we interact with nature, think about nature, these forces—animals, trees, the seasons, our relation to the ever-shifting natural world,” says Sharon. This will be the first Detroit performance of one of Leoš Janáček’s great works; the score features some of the most beautiful music ever written.

The wedding of the servant couple Figaro and Susanna is imminent, and everything could be so beautiful - if it weren't for the love-lusting Count Almaviva, who has been pursuing Susanna for a long time, and the vengeful Doctor Bartolo and his housekeeper Marcellina, who all want to prevent a wedding. After numerous intrigues, Figaro and Susanna, with the help of the Countess and thanks to a sophisticated revenge plan, finally manage to beat Almaviva with his own art of seduction and in the end bring all the legitimate couples (again) together. Johannes Erath's production features mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey as Cherubino.

Mozart’s classic opera puts love under the microscope with comic and disturbing results. Since Mozart's comedy first scandalized audiences in 1790, Così fan tutte has lost none of its sting. ‘All women do it,’ alleges the master manipulator Don Alfonso. Make up your own mind and revel in the wit and glamour of Jan Philipp Gloger's production, which returns to the Royal Opera House, conducted by Alexander Soddy and featuring a stellar cast. Mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey reprises the role of Dorabella in her Royal Opera House debut.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra delves into the operatic repertoire as Mozart's Idomeneo is conducted by the Los Angeles Opera (and former Ravinia) Music Director James Conlon. The work, set in Crete in 1200 BCE and telling the story of the Trojan War, stars Samantha Hankey, Matthew Polenzani, Andrea Carroll, and Alexandria Shiner.

The cornerstone of Ms. Hankey’s program is Dichterliebe (A Poet’s Love) by Robert Schumann, a set of 16 cathartic songs that reflect on Schumann’s separation from his bride, Clara. This jewel of German lieder sits between Poulenc’s masterful 3 Chanson de Federico García Lorca and songs by Satie, Schönberg, Trenet, Weill, and Porter. 

This production of Carmen, created by Àlex Ollé for the NNTT in 2021, is packed with Ollé's distinctive sense of the spectacular and innovative interpretations sure to impress the audience. This is the love story of Carmen -- woman who lives her life freely with modern intelligence, bravery and defiance, and José -- a possessive and jealous man who cannot accept rejection. Rising star Samantha Hankey will play the attention-drawing title role of Carmen, with a beautiful voice that combines strength and softness as well as striking dramatic expression.

Samantha Hankey will appear as Octavian in Strauss' comic opera. Stage director Barrie Kosky's Rosenkavalier also pays tribute to less well-received sources of the work, adding surprising facets to the beloved characters of Sophie, Octavian, Ochs and Marschallin.

Don Giovanni plays out in a field of tension between heaven and hell, as opposites collide in this dramma giocoso, set among amorous desires and the fall of angels. Ms. Hankey performs the role of Donna Elvira in this production.