The next opera launched from the program was A Streetcar Named Desire, the first opera by composer André Previn to a libretto by Philip Littell, based upon the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Tennessee Williams. Streetcar received its world premiere in September of 1999 and was telecast nationally on "Great Performances."

Most recently, Mansouri commissioned the opera Dead Man Walking from composer Jake Heggie and famed playwright Terrence McNally, who will create the libretto. The work, based on Sister Helen Prejean's award-winning book of the same name, received its world premiere in October of 2000.