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December 5 — On This Day in Opera

This page lists notable events in opera history that happened on December 5, including world premieres, composer births, deaths, and important milestones.

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Premieres & milestones

1991 Premiere
Royal Opera House (Covent Garden) company premiere of Mozart's early opera 'Mitridate, re di Ponto' K.87 in a new production by The Royal Opera.
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2024 Premiere
World premiere at La Monnaie (Brussels) of Mikael Karlsson's grand opera 'Fanny and Alexander', based on Ingmar Bergman’s film, with an English libretto by Royce Vavrek.
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Births & deaths

1791 Died
Death of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Vienna; his final works included the opera 'Die Zauberflöte' and the unfinished 'Requiem' K.626.
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1853 Died
Death of Swedish soprano Marie Jeanette Wässelius, celebrated prima donna of the Royal Swedish Opera in the early 19th century.
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1903 Born
Birth of Dutch-born singer and actor Johannes Heesters in Amersfoort; he later became a star of Viennese operetta and German-speaking opera/operetta stages.
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1937 Died
Death of Swedish operatic tenor Henning Malm, who had been engaged at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm.
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1946 Born
Birth of Spanish/Catalan operatic tenor José Carreras (Josep Maria Carreras Coll) in Barcelona, famed for roles in Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini and later for The Three Tenors.
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1962 Born
Birth of Argentine-Spanish operatic tenor and conductor José Cura in Rosario, known for intense portrayals in roles such as Otello, Samson and Canio.
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1973 Died
Death of German operatic soprano Isabel Strauss in Bern; active in major opera recordings and productions in the mid-20th century.
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1989 Born
Birth of Russian coloratura soprano Julia Mikhaylovna Lezhneva in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, later acclaimed for virtuoso performances of 18th- and early-19th-century opera repertoire.
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