CLEVELAND, Ohio - Performances are still months away. Now, though, it's possible at least to start imagining how the Cleveland Orchestra's new production of Debussy's "Pelleas and Melisande" in May will look.

In an announcement and video released Thursday, the orchestra and artistic director Franz Welser-Most revealed some of their early thoughts about the opera. They confirmed that Yuval Sharon will serve as director as well as the cast and several details of the approach the creative team will take.

Renowned in Northeast Ohio for his 2014 production of Janacek's "The Cunning Little Vixen," director Sharon "is one of the most talented, ingenious people I've ever met," said Welser-Most, conductor of performances May 2, 4, and 6 at Severance Hall. "[He] always has new ideas, yet they are also always extremely true and faithful to the piece."

Sharon himself traced his thoughts on the opera to Pierre Boulez, the late composer-conductor, who he said described "Pelleas" as "a tree surrounded by mist." As a result, he said, "I wanted to use that idea to visualize this opera, for mist to be a defining element of this production."

Welser-Most, for his part, drew attention to the dual nature of the drama in "Pelleas." Like an Impressionist painting, he said in a statement, the tale takes effect not immediately but rather over time. Similarly, the work seeks to convey both the internal and external conflicts experienced by the characters.

Hence the primary set piece Sharon and set designer Mimi Lien will be developing: a glass box filled with fog.

Singers, Sharon said, will enter and emerge from the box mysteriously, shrouded in mist. This, he explained will underscore their loneliness and isolation, and reinforce the sense of them being trapped.

At the same, Sharon said, projections and other effects by lighting designer Jason Thompson, choreographer Danielle Agami, and costume designer Ann Closs-Farley will give the impression of "a constantly shifting world."

It's also now known exactly who will populate this theatrical landscape. The title roles will be sung by soprano Martina Jankova and baritone Elliot Madore. Additional cast members include baritone Hanno Muller-Brachmann as Golaud; bass Peter Rose as Arkel; mezzo-soprano Nancy Maultsby as Genevieve; soprano Julie Mathevet as Yniold; and baritone David Castillas as the doctor/shepherd.

"[I]t is truly exciting for me to think about what 'Pelleas' can and will be for Cleveland," Sharon said. "I deeply connect with [Welser-Most's] wish to take an opera...and make it feel alive today and foresee how relevant and vital it can be for centuries to come."

Tickets, $49-$162, are available now. Go to clevelandorchestra.com or call 216-231-1111.