Set against a manhunt in the lawless Sierra Nevada of the nineteenth century, with a pistol-packing, poker-playing heroine, La fanciulla del West sees Minnie Falconer, one of the first independent women to stake her claim in the wilds of California, fall in love with a stranger. But is the stranger who he claims to be?

The first new production of the 2026 Season harnesses the dramatic talents of director Martin Lloyd-Evans (Pagliacci 2024, Margot la Rouge/Le Villi 2023) and conductor Matthew Kofi Waldren (La traviata 2018, 2021, 2024, Un ballo in maschera 2019). Following their triumphant performances together in the 2024 revival of Tosca, soprano Amanda Echalaz makes her role debut as Minnie opposite tenor José de Eça as the mysterious Dick Johnson, with bass baritone Robert Hayward (Pagliacci, 2024) as the suspicious sheriff, Jack Rance. Zwakele Tshabalala, Aiden Edwards and Jack Holton join the supporting cast as members of the homesick mining community that gathers in Minnie’s saloon.