PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Anthony Roth Costanzo, the man who brought $11 opera tickets to Philadelphia, hopes to keep surprising audiences during the company’s new season.

“It is very much opera. It’s dramatic, it’s cathartic, it’s collaborative in interdisciplinary ways,” Costanzo said of Opera Philadelphia’s 50th anniversary season — the first he’s been able to plan since taking charge of the financially teetering company last year. “But it’s different from what your perception of opera might be.”

He slated a work by Rossini to kick things off, with opening night set for Friday. But instead of choosing a repertory staple, Costanzo picked the less-familiar “Il viaggio a Reims.” And the production will be anything but traditional: Director Damiano Michieletto has changed the original setting f

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