The Met season opens in a new production by Mariusz Treliński (the director responsible for the 2014–15 double bill of Iolanta and Bluebeard’s Castle), and will be well served by a cast of outstanding Wagnerians: Nina Stemme as Isolde, Stuart Skelton as Tristan, Ekaterina Gubanova as Brangäne, and René Pape as King Marke, with Sir Simon Rattle conducting.
Simon Keenlyside performs the role of the title hero, who goes to hell in a dazzling coup de théâtre. The cast of great Mozartean singers includes Hilba Gerzmava, Malin Byström, Serena Malfi, and Rolando Villazón. Fabio Luisi conducts.
Kaija Saariaho’s opera, described by the New York Times as “transfixing…a lushly beautiful score,” will have its Metropolitan Opera premiere in a dazzling new production by Robert Lepage, featuring glimmering ribbons of LED lights across the stage. Eric Owens is the knight on a quest of love and Susanna Phillips is his lover on the other side of the sea.
The legendary Plácido Domingo brings another new baritone role to the Met under the baton of his longtime collaborator James Levine. Liudmyla Monastyrska is Abigaille, the warrior woman determined to rule empires, and Jamie Barton is the heroic Fenena. Dmitri Belosselskiy is the stentorian voice of the oppressed Hebrew people.
The New York Times said, “the temperature rises nearly to boiling every time Diana Damrau and Vittorio Grigolo are on stage together.” Now they’re back as opera’s classic lovers, in Gounod’s lush Shakespeare adaptation. The production has already won acclaim for its vivid 18th-century milieu and stunning costumes during runs at Salzburg and La Scala.
Kristine Opolais stars as the mythical Rusalka, who sings the haunting “Song to the Moon.” Mary Zimmerman brings her wondrous theatrical imagination to Dvořák’s fairytale of love and longing, rejection and redemption. Brandon Jovanovich, Jamie Barton, Katarina Dalayman, and Eric Owens complete the all-star cast, and Mark Elder conducts.
Sonya Yoncheva sings the tragic courtesan Violetta, a role in which she triumphed on the Met stage in 2015, opposite Michael Fabiano as her lover, Alfredo, and Thomas Hampson as his father, Germont. Carmen Giannattasio sings later performances of the title role opposite Atalla Ayan, with the great Plácido Domingo as Germont.
Mozart’s first operatic masterpiece returns to the Met, conducted by James Levine. The cast includes Matthew Polenzani as the king torn by a rash vow; mezzo-soprano Alice Coote as his noble son Idamante; soprano Nadine Sierra as Ilia; and soprano Elza van den Heever as the volatile Elettra, who loves Idamante to the bounds of madness.
Tchaikovsky’s setting of Pushkin’s timeless verse novel is presented on the Metropolitan Opera stage in Deborah Warner’s moving production, starring Anna Netrebko and Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Tatiana and Onegin. Alexey Dolgov sings the role of Lenski, and Robin Ticciati conducts.
The dream cast of Renée Fleming as the Marschallin and Elīna Garanča as Octavian star in Strauss’s grandest opera. Director Robert Carsen places the action at the end of the Habsburg Empire, underscoring the opera’s subtext of class and conflict against a rich backdrop of gilt and red damask, in a staging that also stars Günther Groissböck as Baron Ochs.
The Met’s English-language family adaptation of Mozart’s sublime and mystical journey, a new holiday tradition in the city, returns in Julie Taymor’s fanciful production, including Nathan Gunn in his acclaimed interpretation of the bird-catcher Papageno. This special holiday encore presentation will sell out, so order your reserved seats now!
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