Lincoln Center Festival – which this year will run from July 10 to July 30 – is a reliable source of excellent performing arts, and yesterday its organizers announced the 2006 lineup. Leading the list is the New York premiere of Elliot Goldenthal’s opera “Grendel,” co-commissioned by the festival with the Los Angeles Opera Company. The story, based on the 1971 book, tells the medieval epic “Beowulf” from the monster’s perspective. Directed by Julie Taymor, the director and set designer of “The Lion King,” the opera is the festival’s largest and most ambitious co-commission to date, according to festival director Nigel Redden. In separate performances, actor Benjamin Bagby will perform the original “Beowulf” in Old English.

This year’s dance offerings are varied and noteworthy. The San Francisco Ballet will return to New York with four works, including the New York premieres of choreography by William Forsythe, Christopher Wheeldon, and Helgi Thomasson. Mark Morris’s version of the full-length narrative ballet “Sylvia” will be presented in honor of the Mark Morris Dance Company’s 25th anniversary.

Fans of aggressive modern dance will welcome Elizabeth Streb’s “STREB vs. GRAVITY,” which she describes as a “spatial trompe l’oeil.” With the show’s 12 surveillance cameras, giant hamster wheel, and 12-foot frictionless surface, patrons will walk away with “the good kind of vertigo,” she said at a press conference.The Batsheva Dance Company and choreographer Bill T. Jones will present new works at the festival, as well.

One theme of this year’s festival is a return to the epics, according to Mr. Redden. In addition to “Grendel” and “Beowulf,” Ireland’s Druid Theater is presenting the complete plays of John Millington Synge during the course of one afternoon and evening. The show, titled “DruidSynge,” will last from 2 p.m. until nearly midnight, with a break for dinner.

The visual artist Rirkrit Tiravanija is coordinating the staging of “Ramakien: A Rak Opera,” which is inspired by an episode of the Thai epic “Ramayana.” Mr. Tiravanija has cast the 2,000-year-old epic with some of Thailand’s top rock stars and divas. Sek Loso, a musician whose work is becoming popular in England and America, plays Prince Rama.

The Serbian composer Goran Bregovic will present a single performance of his music – which he describes as “contemporary music coming from a very old-fashioned place” – with a 40-musician band that includes a full men’s choir and a Gypsy vocalist.

Tickets will go on sale Wednesday, June 14, at the Avery Fisher Hall box office at 65th Street and Broadway.