Donald Pippin's much loved Pocket Operas have gotten such a warm welcome on ventures into Napa, the group has decided to make the Napa Valley Opera House a regular stop on the 2006 season.

This year's season opened with a Jacques Offenbach's "A New Woman (Genvieve de Brabant)" which they'll perform Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Opera House.

"A New Woman" opened last week in San Francisco, where it was hailed as "triumphant, thrilling and funny."

In Offenbach's zany opera, a scandal rocks the 12th century village of Ham on Rye, and a heroine -- the new woman -- is born. Meanwhile, the army has boarded the Orient Express for Palestine, launching a crusade to bring light to the Middle East, and somehow winds up at a lavish house party in an elegant chateau not far from Paris. Elsewhere, the U.S. Marines make a decidedly unexpected appearance, in the form of two sleazy and slightly inebriated cops on patrol duty: "To hell with halls of Montezuma!"

The Pocket Operas are the unique creation of the charming octogenarian Pippin, who translates the libretti into English and stages his innovative, unpredictable productions "that aim for the heart, challenge the mind and tickle the funny bone."

The career of Pippin, artistic director and founder of Pocket Opera, has spanned over six decades and as many time zones. Born in Zebulon, N.C. and educated at Harvard University, Pippin began his career as a pianist/accompanist at Balanchine's School for American Ballet in New York City. He moved to San Francisco in 1952 and has been an integral part of that city's artistic life since then. Audiences have followed him loyally from his start at the hungry i and Opus One in North Beach, through nearly two decades of presenting a weekly chamber music series at the Old Spaghetti Factory, to his present-day fame as the genius behind one of San Francisco's most popular operatic institutions.

Pippin's first translation came in 1968, in the course of preparing Mozart's one-act opera "Bastien und Bastienne" for performance as part of his chamber music series. The opera, and his singing translation of it, were immediate successes with San Francisco audiences. From that point on, Donald dedicated himself to the task of producing singable, intelligible and literate English versions of both well-loved classics and lesser-known gems of operatic literature. His repertoire has grown to include over 60 translations, many of which have been used by the Washington Opera at the Kennedy Center, the San Francisco Opera Center, the San Diego Opera, the Juilliard School of Music and the Aspen Music Festival.

Critic and author Robert Commanday has written, "Central to each Pocket Opera performance has been Pippin's inimitable "stand-up," introducing the work iin his droll, straight-faced style. Š And we're off and running as the commentary continues and, where deserved, with tongue in cheek and shared bemusement at the conceits and follies of the librettos and their characters, but never condescension."

The 2006 Pocket Opera season includes "The New Woman" ( in Napa, Feb. 19, 2 p.m.); Carl Maria Von Weber's "Der Freischutz" (The Trial Shot); Berich Smetana's "The Bartered Bride" (performed in Napa March 26), George Fridric Handel's "Agrippina," "Tales of Hoffman," (May 21, Napa) and Verdi's "Rigoletto," (June 25, Napa)

Pocket Opera single tickets are $32 in advance, $35 at the door; seniors $29 in advance, $32 at the door; $18 youth (under 18) and student rush (30 minutes before curtain with student ID).

Season Subscription: Purchase one ticket for each of the six operas for only $160, a 24 percent savings. Additional tickets may then be purchased for $27 each.

Mini-Season Subscription: Purchase tickets to four or more performances for $28 per ticket, a 20 percent saving over the single ticket price.

To order tickets by phone, call 415-972-8934 Monday through Friday noon to 4 p.m. Tickets for "The New Woman," are also available at the Napa Valley Opera House box office, located in the lobby, or by calling 226-7372 or logging on to nvoh.org.