The world premiere of the opera "Doubt" is the highlight of the Minnesota Opera's 2012-13 year -- the 50th-anniversary season. Playwright John Patrick Shanley adapted the libretto from his Pulitzer Prize-winning play, and composer Douglas Cuomo wrote the score.

This production continues the company's New Works Initiative, but another new opera that once was an important part of that program -- "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis," by composer Ricky Gordon and librettist Michael Korie -- has been shelved.

Notably joining "Doubt" on the schedule for next season will be a new production of Puccini's "Turandot," and the completion of Donizetti's Tudor trilogy with "Anna Bolena."

The season opens Sept. 22 with Verdi's biblical drama "Nabucco." Newly hired music director Michael Christie conducts, with direction and design by Thaddeus Strassberger in his Minnesota Opera debut. Baritone Jason Howard sings the title role and soprano Brenda Harris, familiar to local audiences, sings the female lead.

"Anna Bolena" follows, with an opening on Nov. 10. It completes the trilogy begun with "Roberto Devereux" in 2010 and continued with "Maria Stuarda" in 2011. Soprano Keri Alkema makes her Minnesota debut, and bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen returns as King Henry VIII. Kevin Newbury directs with Christie again in the pit.

"Doubt" opens Jan. 26. Shanley's play was a sensation as a small, taut psychological drama in which a strict nun accuses a charismatic, liberal priest of an improper relationship with a student. The play was made into a film with Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Soprano Christine Goerke and baritone Matthew Worth sing the leads.

Ambroise Thomas' "Hamlet" opens March 2. This is a production by the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. The adaptation of Shakespeare's play is an example of the French Grand Opera style. Baritone Brian Mulligan sings the lead.

"Turandot" will be a new production with the involvement of Pittsburgh, Seattle, Utah and Cincinnati opera companies. It opens here April 13.

Missing from the season is "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis," which was slated as a world premiere by Gordon and Korie, the team that produced "Grapes of Wrath" in 2007. Announced in 2008, "Finzi-Continis" originally was targeted for April 2011, but was delayed after a workshop revealed it was not ready. "Wuthering Heights" was swapped into that April, and "Finzi-Continis" was pushed back to April 2013 -- the slot now occupied by "Turandot."

Asked about the absence of the Gordon-Korie project in the 2012-13 season, opera spokesman Daniel Zillman said in an e-mail that the company "no longer has plans to produce 'The Garden of the Finzi-Continis.' Mr. Gordon and Mr. Korie will announce their plans for the work at a future date."