This season, which runs through May 2005 and includes plenty of classic operas such as Gounod's Romeo and Juliet and Verdi's Il trovatore, also features two world premieres.

The first, a Spanish-language opera called Salsipuedes, a Tale of Love, War, and Anchovies, was written by Mexican composer Daniel Catšn (the composer of Florencia en el Amazonas) and has a libretto by Eliseo Alberto and Francisco Hinojosa. It is the story of two couples whose wedding day is interrupted when their island country declares war on Nazi Germany. Salsipuedes premieres on Friday, October 29.

The second world premiere is Lysistrata, or the Nude Goddess, opening on Friday, March 4, 2005, by composer Mark Adamo.

This season's new operas are the HGO's 31st and 32nd world premieres. Last year, the company debuted adaptations of Graham Greene's The End of the Affair and the children's book The Velveteen Rabbit, by Jake Heggie and Mary Carol Warwick respectively.