The Mozart festival in February 2006 marks the 250th anniversary of the composer's birth and will include performances of La clemenza di Tito, CosÐ fan tutte, Don Giovanni, Die Entf‹hrung aus dem Serail, Le nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberfl‹te, and the Mass in C minor.

Alden's Ring, which premiered in 2003, will return in March 2006, conducted by outgoing music director Zubin Mehta. The "controversial and though-provoking production," Jonas noted, "has produced a polemic ranging from extreme and passionate admiration to virulent dislike—in other words exactly fulfilling the composer's wishes for a dialectic and debate about his work."

The tour of Japan in late September will include performances of Wagner's Tannh‹user and Die Meistersinger von N‹rnberg and Handel's Ariodante in Tokyo and Yokohama.

The two new works on the schedule are Medusa, the first opera by Arnaldo de Felice, and Gew‹hltes Profil: lautlos, a music-theater piece by Ruedi H‹usermann.

Other highlights include new productions of Engelbert Humperdinck's K‹nigskinder, directed by Andreas Homoki; Bellini's Norma, directed by J‹rgen Rose and featuring soprano Edita Gruberova's first-ever performance in the title role in a staged production; Wagner's Der fliegende Holl‹nder, directed by Peter Konwitschny (a production already performed on tour in Moscow); and Handel's Orlando, directed by Alden, with countertenor David Daniels in the title role.

Finally, the 2006 Munich Opera Festival will include a new production of Schoenberg's Moses und Aron, directed by David Pountney and conducted by Mehta.