Boston Lyric Opera will present its four 40th-anniversary productions on stages across the city, the company’s general and artistic director, Esther Nelson, announced in a press conference Wednesday.

“Each opera is best served now because the venue is so suitable for the individual operas,” Nelson said.

The BLO’s 2016-2017 season starts in September with the company’s largest production to date, Georges Bizet’s “Carmen,” at the Boston Opera House. Sarah Caldwell’s famed opera company last performed there in 1990. Nelson said it was a scheduling “fluke” that the space became available to the company.

“To have it done in a bigger venue that allows more people to see it serves the piece,” Nelson said.  

The season continues in November with Mark-Anthony Turnage’s “Greek” at Emerson College’s Paramount Center. Next March comes Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rake’s Progress” – with a turn by New England Conservatory instructor and star soprano Jane Eaglen – at Emerson’s Cutler Majestic Theater. The BLO will wrap up with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro,” premiering in April at John Hancock Hall at the Back Bay Events Center.

“This community and the industry has just stepped up and essentially made every effort to help BLO shine in its 40th anniversary,” Nelson said.

Last October, the BLO declined to renew its lease of Citi Center’s Shubert Theatre, where the company had staged operas for 20 years, to save money. Nelson said at a November WGBH panel that the company expected to use a variety of venues over the next five to 10 years while it searched for a home that could accommodate opera’s technical demands and had a stage that could fit up to 80 performers, a pit for up to 120 musicians and a backstage.

“It is no secret that there is in fact no theater currently in Boston that’s either available to us or that exists that is perfect for opera,” she said, “and so I would say, wherever we are and whatever exciting opportunity we are going to use, will probably not be a permanent one.”

Nelson said at the time that BLO had considered using Emerson College’s Colonial Theatre, which has been closed since October. On Wednesday, she reiterated the BLO’s interest in the space, saying it was the only theater on the market.

“The Colonial, however, is owned by Emerson, and Emerson has various options as to what to do with the Colonial,” she said. “Just because we are in need of a more permanent home doesn’t mean that that’s Emerson’s responsibility.”

But during Wednesday’s press conference, Don Law, the principal owner of the Boston Opera House, disclosed that Broadway in Boston, Live Nation, Celebrity Series and Boston Lyric Opera together have made a joint proposal to Emerson College to present shows at the Colonial. The college’s board of trustees has been soliciting and considering programming proposals, its president, Lee Pelton, told WGBH earlier this month. Responding to Law’s disclosure in a statement, Pelton said the board was continuing “to review and analyze these various programming options for the Colonial Theatre, including an analysis of repairs and renovations congruent with the programming options.”