According to a report from Japan's Kyodo News, State Opera director Ioan Holender said at the company's press conference that Ozawa is recovering in Hawaii and regretted missing the opening of the season. The 70-year-old conductor is expected to return in spring 2007 for a revival of Der fliegende H‹llander and a performance of Mahler's Second Symphony.

Manon, which premieres in March 2007, will be directed by stage director Andrei Serban; Bertrand de Billy will conduct.

Other new productions include Strauss's Arabella, directed by Sven-Eric Bechtol, conducted by Franz-Welser-M‹st, and starring Thomas Hampson and Adrianne Pieczonka; Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, directed by Willy Decker, conducted by Gatti, and starring Ferruccio Furlanetto and Olga Borodina; and Donizetti's La Fille du regiment, a co-production with the Royal Opera and the Metropolitan Opera directed by Laurent Pelly, conducted by Yves Abel, and starring Natalie Dessay, Juan Diego Fl‹rez, Carlos Alvarez, and Montserrat Caball_.