Opera InSight

About

Opera as a mirror of the human condition

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Opera InSight is a program built around your enjoyment of the operas. It offers an illuminating look at each season's productions, with special focus on directors' choices, musical interpretation, and the psychological themes that run through these enduring works.

Now in its sixth year, Opera InSight has reached audiences through five seasons of video episodes on the Santa Fe Opera website. In 2026, it returns to a live format, including live performances by acclaimed singers, for an even deeper dive into the music and meaning of the operas you are about to see.

The Presenter

Don Fineberg, MD

Psychiatrist & Opera Educator

Don Fineberg is a psychiatrist in private practice based in Placitas, New Mexico, where he has spent decades helping patients explore the narratives that shape their lives. His writing and presentations sit at the intersection of clinical practice, education, and the arts, with a particular focus on opera as one of the most powerful frameworks ever devised for examining human emotion.

For more than twenty years he has led Opera and Psychology seminars, and for years he has given pre-performance talks at the Santa Fe Opera. Over the past five festival seasons, his Opera InSight video series has appeared on the Santa Fe Opera website. In 2026, Opera InSight returns to a live format, with live musical performances, taking an even deeper dive into the musical and psychological themes that make opera so enduring.

Date

Friday, June 26, 2026

Location

UNM Hodgin Hall, Bobo Room
Albuquerque, New Mexico

Format

9:00 AM to 4:45 PM, with lunch break
Coffee bar opens at 8:30

Admission

$125

Opera InSight is built around your enjoyment of the operas. The program offers an illuminating look at each of this season's productions, with special focus on directors' choices and musical interpretation. By highlighting each narrative's psychological themes, we reveal how opera makes a compelling mirror of the human condition: its foibles and triumphs, loves and vendettas, dilemmas and humor. For the first time, Opera InSight includes live performances, with mezzo-soprano Olga Perez Flora and tenor James Flora performing selected excerpts from the operas.

The 2026 Santa Fe Opera festival season includes Puccini's Madama Butterfly and Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, two timeless tragedies of love found and lost; Mozart's The Magic Flute, with its lush music and trials of the heart; Handel's 1725 Rodelinda, a melodrama of passion and intrigue that rivals modern film noir; and the American premiere of Tobias Picker's Lili Elbe, a moving portrayal of a transgender protagonist's transition.

Whether you are new to opera or a longtime patron seeking fresh insight, Opera InSight offers an engaging welcome and a deeper appreciation of these works. Which operas will inspire you this season? Opera InSight can help launch your journey.

Featuring Live Performances by

Olga Perez Flora

Mezzo-Soprano

Cuban-American mezzo-soprano praised for her "smoky toned" voice (Opera News). Associate Professor of Voice and Head of the Voice Area at the University of New Mexico, with a 2026 Carnegie Hall debut as the mezzo-soprano soloist in Mozart's Coronation Mass.

James Flora

Tenor

American tenor hailed for his "resonant, impeccably trained voice and fearless singing." Assistant Professor of Voice at the University of New Mexico. Recently appeared with the Metropolitan Opera Chorus in Die Meistersinger and Fidelio.

Reserve Your Seat

The Video Series

Past episodes

Don's Opera InSight series on the Santa Fe Opera YouTube channel takes a deeper look at the psychological currents running through opera's enduring works.

La Bohème

The "bromance" and romance of Puccini's classic, and the psychology of love and loss.

The Marriage of Figaro

Mozart's "romcom" of desire and disguise, where a love triangle reveals serious truths about intimacy and trust.

Rigoletto

Verdi's study of revenge, free will, and the pull of circumstance on the choices we make.

Opera, illuminated.