The 2018 Fort Worth Opera Festival doesn’t open until April 27  — with Maria de Buenos Aires, Don Pasquale and the program of multiple short operas called Brief Encounters — but we already know what to expect next year.
In a deviation of the festival format launched in 2007, the list of three productions will be performed over the course of about five weeks, but not in repertory — each production will end before the next one begins.
The lineup kicks off with George Gershwin’s American English-language classic Porgy & Bess. Set in the Jim Crow South near the turn of the century, it features favorites from the Great American Songbook including “Summertime” and “Bess You Is My Woman Now.” Lesbian director Francesca Zambello becomes only the second woman in the company’s more than 70-year history to direct a mainstage production. It’s all the more astonishing because Zambello is one of the most acclaimed directors of opera and musical theater of the past quarter-century, including the original Broadway production of Disney’s The Little Mermaid. She is currently artistic director of both the Washington National Opera and the acclaimed Glimmerglass Festival in upstate New York. Porgy & Bess will play at Bass Performance Hall, April 26, 28 and 30.
Next up will be El Pasado Nunca se Termina, composer Jose “Pepe” Martinez’s Mariachi-inspired opera. It is part of the FWO’s ongoing commitment to operas composed in Spanish and reaching out to Spanish-speaking audiences and cultures. It will play May 10 and 12 at Bass.
The final mainstage presentation will be El Ultimo Sueno de Frida y Diego, presented as a showcase. The FWO announced to commission of this world premiere opera, about bisexual artist Frida Kahlo and her stormy relationship with husband Diego Rivera, last summer. Originally it was set to premiere in 2020. The score is by Gabriela Lena Frank with a libretto by gay Pulitzer Prize-winner Nilo Cruz. It will take place May 30 and 31, but the venue has not been decided upon.
In addition, FWO will bring back its Frontiers program — a showcase for in-development operas — during the festival, with dates to be determined.
Our interview with John de los Santos, who directs his fourth season-opener for the FWO this month, runs Friday.
Visit FWOpera.org for more information.

— Arnold Wayne Jones