The New Season: Opera-Hopping Around Europe As with all the arts, the new opera season is gathering steam across Europe. Here, for music-loving travelers, are some of the productions on the calendar that have caught my fancy, in chronological order. BERLIN "American Lulu" The gifted Austrian composer Olga Neuwirth draws on many sources for her music. She made an opera of David Lynch's film "Lost Highway," for one. Her latest, which has its world premiere at the Komische Oper in Berlin, newly incarnates the femme fatale of Alban Berg's "Lulu" as a black American in the 1960s and '70s; and draws on Berg's music as well, giving it a jazz accent as befits New Orleans-where her new Lulu hung out before settling in New York as a high-class prostitute. The production is by the Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov, and Lulu is Marisol Montalvo, who was sensational as Berg's Lulu in Basel a few seasons back. 30 to June 30. www.komische-oper-berlin.de PARMA "La Battaglia di Legnano" Opera houses in Italy are still reeling from governmental budget cuts, but Parma soldiers on with an annual festival in October devoted to Verdi, who was born in a nearby hamlet and grew up in the province. Notorious for its exacting performance standards, this year Parma offers an obscure product of the composer's so-called "galley years," the patriotic "La Battaglia di Legnano " in a new production at the Teatro Regio by the veteran Pier Luigi Pizzi led by Boris Brott. Now down to two operas from three, the festival also plans a "Rigoletto" with the apparently ageless baritone Leo Nucci. Oct. 9-27. www.teatroregioparma.org PARIS "Médée" Aside from commemorating its role as birthplace 100 years ago of Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring," the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris devotes a chunk of its season to operas based on the Medea legend. First to come is Marc-Antoine Charpentier's gripping 17th-century treatment, which seasoned opera goers will remember from performances by William Christie starring the late Lorraine Hunt. Staged by Pierre Audi, conducted by Emmanuelle Haim and with Michèle Losier as Médée, the new production looks promising too. Oct. 12-23. www.theatrechampselysees.fr BRUSSELS "Lulu" Berg's opera has often thrived, or at least endured minimally scathed, on productions by provocateur-directors, among whom Krzysztof Warlikowski decidedly ranks. Théâtre de la Monnaie's Web site says his new staging treats "Lulu" as a requiem "to the memory of an angel"-the quoted words being those of the dedication of Berg's Violin Concerto, a work he put "Lulu" aside to compose. Paul Daniel conducts the initial performances, with Barbara Hannigan and Kerstin Averno sharing the title role. Oct. 14-30. www.lamonnaie.be BERLIN "Parsifal" The filmmaker Philipp Stölzl tackles his second Wagner opera for the Deutsche Oper. Having found success with his staging of the frantic early opera "Rienzi" about a demagogic Roman tribune, Mr. Stölzl now turns to the religiosity of Wagner's final opera. The tenor Klaus Florian Vogt divides opinion with a vocal style that sometimes borders on crooning, but his approach could be an asset in characterizing the "untainted fool" embodied by the title role. The Deutsche Oper's music director Donald Runnicles conducts. Oct. 21-April 1. www.deutscheoperberlin.de NANCY, FRANCE "Artaserse" Fanciers of Baroque opera should have a field day with this one at the Opéra National de Lorraine, even if its composer, the Naples-trained Leonardo Vinci (not to be confused with another Leonardo), is technically a pre-Classicist. No more than 40 at his death in 1730 (his birth date uncertain), he nevertheless gained enormous popularity and posthumous respect for the polish of his melodic style, which moved away from Baroque complexity. He also teamed up with the emerging Metastasio, becoming the first to set several of the immortal poet's early librettos, including "Artaserse." This staging by Silviu Purcarete boasts two of today's premier countertenors, Philippe Jaroussky and Max Emanuel Cencic. Diego Fasolis conducts Concerto Köln; the opera will also be given in concert form in several cities. Nov. 2-10. www.opera-national-lorraine.fr STUTTGART "L'Écume des jours" Here's one to take a chance on: an opera by Edison Denisov (1929-1996), one of the triumvirate (along with Alfred Schnittke and Sofia Gubaidulina) of Russian composers in the post-Shostakovich generation. With no commission or prospects for performance, he wrote an opera based on the French writer Boris Vian's surrealistic novel (sometimes translated as "Froth on the Daydream") about a man whose wife contracts an illness that can be treated only by surrounding her with flowers. Denisov said he wanted to show "that it is possible today to write something singable without reverting to old-fashioned traditionalism." The opera was belatedly premiered at Paris's Opéra Comique in 1984 and is revived in Stuttgart at the Staatstheater in a production by Josse Wieler and Sergio Morabito, with Sylvain Cambreling conducting. Dec. 1-July 21. www.staatstheater-stuttgart.com PARIS "Carmen" For those who might find my list a bit esoteric, how about "Carmen" in a new production at the Opéra National de Paris? The big draw here is Anna Caterina Antonacci, whose excellence in the title role was conclusively demonstrated not long ago at the Opéra Comique. The rest of the cast is strong too, and the Opéra's splendid young music director Philippe Jordan conducts. Director Yves Beaunesne, whose operatic work has been principally in France's regional houses, gets a chance to prove himself on the Bastille stage. Dec. 4-29. www.operadeparis.fr LONDON "Robert le Diable" For anyone willing to cast off Wagner's dim view of Meyerbeer and consider his merits afresh, a staging of one of his grand operas by a major house is not to be missed. The man knew what stage spectacle was all about (remember the ballet for the ghosts of depraved nuns) and his music offers distinct rewards as well. The tenor Bryan Hymel, who replaced Jonas Kaufmann in "Les Troyens" with great success last season, returns to the Royal Opera House in the title role in a production by the versatile Laurent Pelly, with Daniel Oren on the podium. Dec. 6-21. www.roh.org.uk MILAN "Lohengrin" Speaking of Wagner, Italy's premier opera house, while still in the process of assembling its new "Ring" (a co-production with the Berlin Staatsoper), opens its season -as always, on the feast-day of St. Ambrose-with "Lohengrin." Critics faulted Claus Guth's production of "Die Frau ohne Schatten" at La Scala earlier this year for treating the opera as the dream of a mental patient (the Empress), but Guth has done some fine work too, and let's hope his new "Lohengrin" falls in the latter category. In any case, the cast is headed by Anja Harteros and Jonas Kaufmann, who are peerless in their respective roles, and Daniel Barenboim's conducting should be a big plus as well. Dec. 7-27. www.teatroallascala.org