DELIGHT AT THE OPERA. Consider yourself very, very fortunate if you go to only one opera this season and it happens to be the Gotham Chamber Opera's winning production of Handel's Arianna in Creta (1733). There's only one more scheduled performance, on Friday, February 18 at 7:30 pm.

It is astounding that this fine opera has never before been staged in the United States, as artistic director Neal Goren notes. The mythological plot, in which Theseus confronts the minotaur, may be hackneyed, but that kind of thing has never been much of a deal breaker when it comes to opera. The main thing is the music, which is lovely.

Early operas have a reputation of being static and undramatic but recent productions have enlivened the proceedings by employing various forms of stagecraft, including choreography and colorful costuming. This Arianna, directed by Christopher Alden, offers a variety of comic ploys as well as stylized blocking and theatrical singing and acting.

There's a good chance that the last performance is sold out, so hustle if you're interested. Ticket-buying information is about three-quarters down the page at Ticket Central. The theater is south of Delancey Street at the corner of Grand and Pitt.

Coming in July is a Lincoln Center presentation of another United States premiere: an Ottorino Respighi opera that the Gotham Chamber Opera's website describes as a "masterpiece--a fantastical Sleeping Beauty written for singers, orchestra, and puppets, directed by avant-garde puppeteer Basil Twist." Tickets for that may be on sale as early as April, so consider yourself forewarned.