The Greater Good is based on Guy de Maupassant's short story "Boule de suif", a tale of French citizens trapped behind enemy lines during the Franco-Prussian War. The libretto is by Philip Littell, who collaborated with Andr_ Previn on A Streetcar Named Desire. The Glimmerglass production opens on July 22, with a cast led by soprano Christina Pier, the winner of the 2003 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

Miller, the British physician, writer, lecturer, television personality, and director for film, theater, and opera, said last fall that he believed that his opera career was over. Nevertheless, his staging of Jenufa, a co-production with New York City Opera, opens on July 29; Maria Kanyova sings the title role. The performances will be the first ever of a Janšcek opera at Glimmerglass.

The season will also include a new production of Rossini's The Barber of Seville directed by Leon Major, with sets by John Conklin, and a new staging of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance, another co-production with New York City Opera.