SHORT OPERA SUMMARIES BELOW

MEDEA Cherubini

Saturday, October 22nd, 2022 | 17:55
Having triumphed at the Met in some of the repertory’s fiercest soprano roles, Sondra Radvanovsky stars as the mythic sorceress who will stop at nothing in her quest for vengeance. Joining Radvanovsky in the Met-premiere production of Cherubini’s rarely performed masterpiece is tenor Matthew Polenzani as Medea’s Argonaut husband, Giasone; soprano Janai Brugger as her rival for his love, Glauce; bass Michele Pertusi as her father, Creonte, the King of Corinth; and mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova as Medea’s confidante, Neris.

LA TRAVIATA Verdi

Saturday, November 5th, 2022 | 16:55
Soprano Nadine Sierra stars as the self-sacrificing courtesan Violetta—one of opera’s ultimate heroines—in Michael Mayer’s vibrant production of Verdi’s beloved tragedy. Tenor Stephen Costello is her self-centred lover Alfredo, alongside baritone Luca Salsi as his disapproving father and Maestro Daniele Callegari on the podium.

THE HOURS Put

Saturday, December 4th, 2021 | 17:55

The world-premiere staging of Kevin Puts’s The Hours, adapted from Michael Cunningham’s acclaimed novel, which also served as the inspiration for the Oscar-winning film, arrives in cinemas this December. In her highly anticipated return to the Met, soprano Renée Fleming joins soprano Kelli O’Hara and mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato to portray three women from different eras who grapple with their inner demons and their roles in society. Phelim McDermott, who recently created the Met’s acclaimed production of Philip Glass’s Akhnaten, directs this compelling drama, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes the podium to conduct Puts’s powerful score.

FEDORA Giordano

Saturday, January 14th, 2023 | 17:55

Giordano’s exhilarating drama Fedora returns to the Met for the first time in 25 years, starring soprano Sonya Yoncheva in the title role of the 19th-century princess who falls in love with her fiancé’s murderer, Count Loris, sung by tenor Piotr Beczała. Soprano Rosa Feola is the Countess Olga, Fedora’s confidante, and baritone Artur Ruciński is the diplomat De Siriex. Marco Armiliato conducts David McVicar’s intricate production, with a fixed set that unfolds to reveal the opera’s settings: a palace in St. Petersburg, a fashionable Parisian salon, and a picturesque villa in the Swiss Alps.

LOHENGRIN Wagner

Saturday, March 18th, 2023 | 16:00

Wagner’s Lohengrin returns to the Met stage after an absence of 17 years with this atmospheric new staging by François Girard. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts a cast led by tenor Piotr Beczała in the title role of the mysterious swan knight. Soprano Tamara Wilson is the virtuous duchess Elsa, falsely accused of murder, going head-to-head with soprano Christine Goerke as the cunning sorceress Ortrud. Bass-baritone Evgeny Nikitin is Ortrud’s power-hungry husband, Telramund, and bass Günther Groissböck is King Heinrich.

FALSTAFF Verdi

Saturday, April 1st, 2023 | 17:30
Baritone Michael Volle stars as the caddish knight Falstaff, gleefully tormented by a trio of clever women who deliver his comeuppance, in Verdi’s glorious Shakespearean comedy. Maestro Daniele Rustioni takes the podium on April 1 to oversee a brilliant ensemble cast that features sopranos Hera Hyesang Park, Ailyn Pérez, and Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo-soprano Marie-Nicole Lemieux, tenor Bogdan Volkov, and baritone Christopher Maltman.

DER ROSENKAVALIER Strauss

Saturday, April 15th, 2023 | 17:00
A stellar trio assembles to take on the lead roles of Strauss’s comedy, with soprano Lise Davidsen in her Met role debut as the Marschallin, opposite mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard in her Met role debut as Octavian, and soprano Erin Morley as Sophie. Bass Günther Groissböck returns as Baron Ochs, and Markus Brück is Sophie’s father, Faninal. Maestro Simone Young takes the podium to oversee Robert Carsen’s fin-de-siècle staging.

CHAMPION Blanchard

Saturday, April 29th, 2023 | 17:55
Six-time Grammy Award–winning composer Terence Blanchard brings his first opera to the Met after his Fire Shut Up in My Bones made history in the 2021–22 season. Bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green is the young boxer Emile Griffith, who rises from obscurity to become a world champion, and bass-baritone Eric Owens portrays Griffith’s older self, haunted by the ghosts of his past. Soprano Latonia Moore is Emelda Griffith, the boxer’s estranged mother, and mezzo- soprano Stephanie Blythe is the bar owner Kathy Hagan. Yannick Nézet-Séguin returns to the podium to conduct Blanchard’s second Met premiere. Director James Robinson, whose productions of Fire Shut Up in My Bones and Porgy and Bess brought down the house, oversees the staging. Camille A. Brown, whose choreography electrified audiences in Fire and Porgy, also returns..

DON GIOVANNI Mozart

Saturday, May 20th, 2023 | 17:55
Tony Award–winning director Ivo van Hove makes his Met debut with a new staging of Mozart’s tragicomedy Don Giovanni. The tale of deceit and damnation is set in an abstract architectural landscape that explores the dark corners of the story and its characters. Nathalie Stutzmann makes her Met debut conducting a star-studded cast led by baritone Peter Mattei as a magnetic Don Giovanni, alongside the Leporello of bass-baritone Adam Plachetka. Sopranos Federica Lombardi, Ana María Martínez, and Ying Fang are Giovanni’s conquests—Donna Anna, Donna Elvira, and Zerlina—and tenor Ben Bliss sings Don Ottavio.

DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE Mozart

Saturday, June 3rd, 2023 | 17:55
Nathalie Stutzmann conducts her second Mozart work this season with a new production of Die Zauberflöte. In his Met-debut staging, Simon McBurney incorporates projections, sound effects, and acrobatics to match the spectacle and drama of Mozart’s fable. The brilliant cast includes soprano Erin Morley as Pamina, tenor Lawrence Brownlee as Tamino, baritone Thomas Oliemans in his Met debut as Papageno, soprano Kathryn Lewek as the Queen of the Night, and bass Stephen Milling as Sarastro.