Singing in the States; Whatever your American destination, first-rate opera will be nearby. Our picks for the season's hottest tickets.

From classics like "The Barber of Seville" to innovative new operas, summer is the time to see some of America's best productions.

Colorado: Central City Opera performs in the restored opera house of a gold-rush mining town outside Denver. Established American singers work alongside younger voices in a leading apprentice program. This year's repertoire includes Monteverdi's Baroque masterpiece "The Coronation of Poppea," Mozart's great "Don Giovanni" and the 50th-anniversary performance of Douglas Moore's "The Ballad of Baby Doe" (through Aug. 6; centralcityopera.org).

Ohio: Cincinnati Opera, the second oldest company in America, presents classic operas performed by a combination of established stars and younger professionals. In addition to works like Puccini's "Tosca," Verdi's "A Masked Ball" and Offenbach's "Tales of Hoffmann," one can see Emmanuel Chabrier's French farce, "L'Etoile" (through July 22; cincinnatiopera.com).

New York: Glimmerglass Opera performs in an intimate semi-outdoor theater in Cooperstown, a lovely lakeside town also home to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Here younger American singers play the leads, while apprentices take the smaller roles. The four operas include two classic favorites: Rossini's "Barber of Seville" and Gilbert and Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance," as well as "Jenufa" by the 20th-century master Leos Janacek, and the interesting world premiere of an American opera, "The Greater Good," based on a Guy de Maupassant short story (through Aug. 29; glimmerglass.org).

California: San Francisco Opera, a leading U.S. company with a grand tradition, presents three major ...