Saxophonist-composer Wayne Shorter famously said, “To me, jazz means ‘I dare you.’” Bassist-vocalist-composer  Esperanza Spalding, some 51 years his junior, is increasingly determined to follow through on Shorter’s credo. Putting them together, then, makes perfect sense, and at the same time sets up something unpredictable (to say the least). Who, for example, would have predicted an opera? Iphigenia is based on Euripides’ play of the same name, but a mere adaptation was never going to be enough to satisfy Shorter and Spalding’s creative muses. Years in the making, the opera promises a feminist perspective on the ancient Greek myth of Princess Iphigenia, as well as a deconstruction of the very concept of storytelling. Oh, and it’ll also feature a reconception of operatic music, with an orchestra organized around two members of Shorter’s longtime quartet—pianist Danilo Perez and bassist John Patitucci—who will be improvising freely on the written score. Not enough talent? The award-winning Lileana Blain-Cruz is its director, and legendary architect Frank Gehry is its set designer. Whatever else ends up being said about Iphigenia, surely nobody can cast doubt on the opera’s “I dare you” quotient. Dec. 10 and 11 at the Kennedy Center. $29–$89. —Michael J. West