“Rising Waters/Rising Voices” is Boston Lyric Opera's new initiative aimed at addressing climate change.

The Boston Lyric Opera plans to leverage its stages and community presence to highlight and inspire action against the climate crisis. The initiative kicks off on October 19 and 20 during Fort Point Open Studios, where the company will welcome visitors to its new Opera & Community Studios at Midway Artist Studios. The events will feature preview performances of upcoming programming, and Artistic Director Nina Yoshida Nelsen will moderate a panel discussion on climate change awareness with leading activists and professionals.

For the spring 2025 season, two mainstage productions will center on this theme. The first will be the world premiere of “The Seasons,” co-conceived by Anthony Roth Costanzo and Sarah Ruhl. The season will conclude with a free, community-focused performance of Benjamin Britten’s parable opera “Noah’s Flood.”

“Rising Waters/Rising Voices” is inspired by the company’s recent expansion into the Fort Point neighborhood, an area particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels. The initiative is modeled after “The Butterfly Process,” which during the 2022-23 season brought together artists, opera historians, academics, and prominent Asian and Asian-American leaders to examine the opera “Madama Butterfly.” Participants explored the work through an anti-racist lens and developed a leading plan for staging intentional and inclusive future productions.