Off in the Scottish Highlands, Lady Macbeth walks in her sleep, obsessing about murders that have raised her lord to the throne. Happily, things turn out better for the orphaned Amina of La Sonnambula, who sleepwalks across a treacherous footbridge over a rushing torrent in the Swiss Alps, lamenting lost love. What’s going on in Verdi’s opera requires no elaboration. But apropos La Sonnambula, Teatro Nuovo’s artistic and general director Will Crutchfield points out an elegant paradox: “We see a whole village of sleepwalkers living in the past,” he writes, “gossiping, seeing ghosts, obsessed with partners they can’t have, and obsessed with their departed relatives. Only Amina is wide awake and living in the present, and her sleepwalking, in effect, wakes everyone else up.” As usual, the company’s performances are informed by scrupulous scholarship into historic vocal and instrumental practice—not for the sake of pedantries but to kindle the performers’ imaginative participation in the creativity of performance and the public’s, as well. Shows take place out of town in Montclair, New Jersey, and in Manhattan—this year for the first time at City Center, historically the home of New York City Opera, with twice the capacity of Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater, Teatro Nuovo’s former showcase. Bring friends!