The Metropolitan Opera: Don Carlos

La Traviata’s sumptuous melodies and timeless depiction of doomed love have made the work a favorite of generations of operagoers. In his approach to this classic drama, director Willy Decker sets the action on a nearly bare stage, focusing the audience’s full attention on the three main characters. As Violetta, the ailing courtesan desperate to escape her past, soprano Sonya Yoncheva offers a fearless and sympathetic performance from beginning to end. American tenor Michael Fabiano sings with ardent longing as her devoted lover Alfredo, delivering emotionally wrought phrases and ringing top notes. Thomas Hampson brings a burnished baritone to Germont, Alfredo’s protective father whose stern demands spell disaster for the young couple. On the podium, maestro Nicola Luisotti leads an electric performance of Verdi’s unforgettable score.

The Gershwins’ modern American masterpiece has its first Met performances in almost three decades, starring bass-baritone Eric Owens and soprano Angel Blue in the title roles. Director James Robinson’s stylish production transports audiences to Catfish Row, a setting vibrant with the music, dancing, emotion, and heartbreak of its inhabitants.

The European premiere of the opera by the contemporary American composer John Adams, with libretto by Peter Sellars, in a co-production of the San Francisco Opera (where the work premiered), the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and De Nederlandse Opera. The plot focuses on the great stress and anxiety experienced by those at Los Alamos while the test of the first atomic bomb (the "Trinity" test) was being prepared.

Bizet’s rarely heard opera returned to the Met for the first time in a century on New Year’s Eve 2015, in Penny Woolcock’s acclaimed new production. Star soprano Diana Damrau sings Leïla, the virgin priestess at the center of the story. Matthew Polenzani and Mariusz Kwiecien are Nadir and Zurga, rivals for Leïla’s love who have sworn to renounce her to protect their friendship—and who get to sing one of opera’s most celebrated duets, “Au fond du temple saint.” Nicolas Testé is the high priest Nourabad and Gianandrea Noseda conducts Bizet’s supremely romantic score.

To bring together again, for the first time since their premiere on a December evening in Moscow, Tchaikovsky’s opera Iolanta and ballet The Nutcracker, was the audacious challenge that Russian stage director Dmitri Tcherniakov accepted for the Palais Garnier in Paris in March 2016 : a revolutionary production, which was to become one of the key events of the Paris Opera season.

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 Glauce’s father, Creonte, the King of Corinth; and mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova as Medea’s confidante, Neris. Carlo Rizzi conducts.

What is this flame that compels Don Giovanni to seduce, subjugate and conquer women one after the other, with the fervour and cold indifference of a predator securing his prey; to pursue through his conquests some obscure and ever‑elusive objective? For his second collaboration with Da Ponte, Mozart was to brand the history of opera with a hot iron and forever haunt European culture. In this Libertine Punished, Kierkegaard invites us to hear “the whisperings of temptation, the whirlwind of seduction, the silence of the moment”. The Mozart-Da Ponte cycle continues with a Don Giovanni entrusted to director Ivo Van Hove. In the wake of Boris Godunov, the director, accustomed to examining the political meaning of works, presents his second production for the Paris Opera.

Donizetti’s timeless comedy shines in Otto Schenk’s enchanting production, conducted by James Levine and featuring a remarkable cast. The incomparable Anna Netrebko is Norina, the young widow beloved by Ernesto (a suave Matthew Polenzani), who is about to be disinherited by his miserly uncle, Don Pasquale (John Del Carlo). It takes the clever scheming of Dr. Malatesta (Mariusz Kwiecien) to set things right and to teach the old curmudgeon a lesson—fits of temper, mistaken identities, and all kinds of comic confusion included.

Honor the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks with this special performance hosted by Misty Copeland and led by Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin featuring soloists Ailyn Pérez, Michelle DeYoung, Matthew Polenzani and Eric Owens.

In order to fulfil the oracle’s prediction, Iphigénie must kill any stranger landing on the shores of Tauride. Alas, it is Oreste, Iphigénie’s own brother, who appears, having murdered their mother Clytemnestra in order to avenge the death of their father Agamemnon: such is the accursed lineage of the Atrides, condemned for generations to inflict death after death… Will this chain of hereditary bloodletting be perpetuated by Iphigénie? In Krzysztof Warlikowski’s stunning first production for the Paris Opera, the characters in the twilight of their existence are still haunted by their past.

Mozart’s early masterpiece returned to the Met for the first time in more than a decade with Music Director Emeritus James Levine, who led the work’s company premiere in 1982, again on the podium. Tenor Matthew Polenzani brings both steely resolve and compassionate warmth to the title king of Crete, who is faced with an impossible decision. With her rich mezzo-soprano, Alice Coote sings the trouser role of Idomeneo’s son Idamante, who loves the Trojan princess Ilia, sung with delicate lyricism by Nadine Sierra. Elza van den Heever gives a thrillingly unhinged portrayal of the jealous Elettra. Jean Pierre-Ponnelle’s timeless production blends the grandeur of ancient myth with the elegance of Enlightenment ideals.

Gualtiero is an exiled count, forced to become a pirate. His enemy Ernesto blackmails Imogene into marrying him, even though he knows she loves Gualtiero. In the searing final scene Imogene goes insane when Gualtiero is condemned to death. This is riveting bel canto drama as you have seldom hear it.

Six-time Grammy Award–winning composer Terence Blanchard brings his first opera to the Met after his Fire Shut Up in My Bones triumphantly premiered with the company to universal acclaim in 2021. 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 takes the podium for Blanchard’s second Met premiere, also reuniting the director-and-choreographer team of James Robinson and Camille A. Brown.

Soprano Christine Goerke plays Brünnhilde, Wotan’s willful warrior daughter, who loses her immortality in opera’s most famous act of filial defiance. In this Live in HD transmission of Die Walküre, the second and most popular installment in the composer’s sweeping tetralogy, Goerke is joined by bass-baritone Greer Grimsley as Brünnhilde godly father, Wotan, and mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton as his unbending wife, Fricka. As the incestuous lovers Siegmund and Sieglinde, soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek and tenor Stuart Skelton—alongside bass Günther Groissböck as Sieglinde’s bloodthirsty husband, Hunding—round out the principal cast. And on the podium, Maestro Philippe Jordan conducts Robert Lepage’s innovative staging, which uses state-of-the-art stage technology to tell Wagner’s mythic tale.

Sir Simon Rattle conducts Arnold Schönberg's Gurre-Lieder for the 75th anniversary of the Bavarian Radio Orchestra at Munich's Isar Philharmonic.

In its most ambitious effort yet to bring the joy and artistry of opera to audiences everywhere during the Met’s closure, the company presented an unprecedented virtual At-Home Gala, featuring more than 40 leading artists performing in a live stream from their homes all around the world.

Umberto Giordano’s exhilarating drama returns to the Met repertory for the first time in 25 years. Packed with memorable melodies, showstopping arias, and explosive confrontations, Fedora requires a cast of thrilling voices to take flight, and the Met’s new production promises to deliver. Soprano Sonya Yoncheva, one of today’s most riveting artists, sings the title role of the 19th-century Russian princess who falls in love with her fiancé’s murderer, Count Loris, sung by star tenor Piotr Beczała. Soprano Rosa Feola is the Countess Olga, Fedora’s confidante, and baritone Artur Ruciński is the diplomat De Siriex, with much-loved Met maestro Marco Armiliato conducting. Director David McVicar delivers a detailed and dramatic staging based around an ingenious fixed set that, like a Russian nesting doll, unfolds to reveal the opera’s three distinctive settings—a palace in St. Petersburg, a fashionable Parisian salon, and a picturesque villa in the Swiss Alps.

Ring Cycle, pt 4. Siegfried is drugged and tricked into kidnapping his wife, since she has the Ring now. More double-crossings, Siegfried ends up dead. Brunnhilde has had enough of this, tosses the Ring into the river and torches the place.

Nabucco, King of Babylon, takes Jerusalem in his war with the Israelites – but his daughter Fenena loves the Israelite Ismaele. She releases their prisoners, leading her vengeful half-sister Abigaille to plot to take power. Nabucco declares himself a god and is struck by a bolt of lightning. Abigaille tricks the now feeble king into signing a death warrant for the Israelites, including Fenena and Ismaele. Nabucco prays to the God of Israel for forgiveness; his sanity is restored and he saves the prisoners from death. He converts himself and his people, while Abigaille commits suicide.

Joyce DiDonato gives a sensational performance as Mary, Queen of Scots, in Donizetti’s bel canto drama, opposite Elza van den Heever as Queen Elizabeth. This Live in HD presentation of David McVicar’s acclaimed 2012 production also stars Matthew Polenzani as Leicester, the man caught between the rival queens. Maurizio Benini conducts.

Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher’s bold new production probes the psychological underpinnings of Verdi’s dynamic setting of Shakespeare’s great tragedy. At the helm of this performance is riveting conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who brings out all the cascading emotions in Verdi’s turbulent score. Aleksandrs Antonenko is the Moor Otello, the triumphant general of the Venetian army who is ultimately brought down by the sly insinuations of his friend Iago (Željko Lučić). Sonya Yoncheva continues to win fans as Desdemona, Otello’s faithful and long-suffering wife. With Günther Groissböck as Lodovico and Dimitri Pittas as Cassio.

Set in 16th-century France and Spain, Don Carlos tells of the political and amorous rivalry between King Philip II and his son, Don Carlos, over Elisabeth de Valois. Krzysztof Warlikowski strips down a tragedy haunted by ghosts, and places the intimate at the heart of an imaginary fresco truer than history itself. Along with Philippe Jordan, he reveals to the public the very first version of this great five-act opera: the version modified by Verdi himself for the work’s first performance in 1867.

Anna Netrebko as the beautiful and wealthy Adina leads the cast in Barlett Sher’s production of Donizetti’s charming comedy, first seen on Opening Night of the Met’s 2012–13 season. Matthew Polenzani is Nemorino, the poor but good-hearted country boy who wins her love—with the help of the magic “elixir” sold by the quack Dulcamara, played by Ambrogio Maestri. Mariusz Kwiecien is the swaggering Sergeant Belcore and Maurizio Benini conducts.

Met Music director James Levine conducts a cast of youthful stars in Mozart’s sophisticated comedy about testing the ties of love. Susanna Phillips and Isabel Leonard are the sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella, who are led to believe their fiancés have gone off to war. Matthew Polenzani and Rodion Pogossov are Ferrando and Guglielmo, the lovers who return in disguise to test their girls' fidelity. Danielle de Niese sings the scheming maid Despina and Maurizio Muraro is Don Alfonso, the philosopher and mastermind pulling the strings.

Robert Lepage’s dreamlike production, with its thousands of twinkling LED lights stretching across the stage to represent the sea, encapsulates the mystic feeling of L’Amour de Loin, Saariaho’s haunting opera of distant love. Eric Owens is Jaufré Rudel, a troubadour in 12th century France who has become tired of his hedonistic life and longs for an idealized love. Enter the Pilgrim (Tamara Mumford) who tells him his perfect love does, in fact, exist, far across the sea. She is Clémence, Countess of Tripoli (Susanna Phillips). The magic of the characters’ inner lives as they explore the meaning of love, longing, life, and death is heightened by Saariaho’s hypnotic and bewitching score, conducted by Susanna Mälkki.

Robert Lepage’s remarkable Met Opera production of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, the 2013 Grammy Award Winner for Best Opera Recording, is now available as individual DVDs. Siegfried features Bryn Terfel, Jay Hunter Morris, and Deborah Voigt, with Fabio Luisi conducting.

Berg’s 20th-century shocker stars baritone Peter Mattei in the title role, with Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin on the podium and soprano Elza van den Heever as the long-suffering Marie. Groundbreaking visual artist and director William Kentridge unveils a bold new staging set in an apocalyptic wasteland.

A village somewhere in the Italian countryside, a wayside inn on a road crossed by the occasional dog. Nothing more. Laurent Pelly’s production presents a deserted landscape in which the turbulent arrival of Doctor Dulcamara causes a sensation. And with good reason! He is said to be the inventor of a mysterious love potion… In opera, love philtres often provoke terrible tragedies. They also provide the pretext for this gentle comedy in which Sergeant Belcore and the timid Nemorino vie with each other for beautiful Adina’s heart. The stage is set! Bring on the music, which, if we are to believe Donizetti, was composed in a fortnight!

Kristine Opolais “gives a vocally lustrous and achingly vulnerable performance” (New York Times) in the role that helped launch her international career, the mythical Rusalka, who sings the haunting “Song to the Moon.” Director Mary Zimmerman brings her wondrous theatrical imagination to Dvořák’s fairytale of love and longing, rejection and redemption, giving the work “an inspired staging” (Huffington Post). Brandon Jovanovich, Jamie Barton, Katarina Dalayman, and Eric Owens complete “a matchless cast” (New York Times), and Sir Mark Elder conducts “a magnificent rendering of the composer’s lush score (Huffington Post).

Get ready for Das Rheingold, the first chapter in Richard Wagner’s four-part epic, The Ring of the Nibelung. Travel to a world where gods, giants, and dwarves vie for control over the realms of myths and mortals.

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.

Passions run high as Manrico and the Count di Luna compete for the affections of Leonora. Little do they know, Manrico’s mother Azucena has been keeping a terrible secret for decades. Soon a curse from the past will rise up from the ashes with devastating implications for them all. Starring Rachel Willis-Sørensen, Yusif Eyvazov, Gregory Kunde, Ludovic Tézier and Jamie Barton, Adele Thomas’s energetic staging sets Verdi’s tale in a Hieronymus Bosch-inspired universe of medieval superstition. On the podium, Antonio Pappano conducts Verdi’s dramatic score, featuring the famous Anvil chorus.

Production of the Vienna State Opera, October 2024. Inspired by a visit to the Kyoto Costume Institute in Japan, director Kirill Serebrennikov brings the plot of Don Carlo into a contemporary context. He was also inspired by this institute for his stage design - after all, original objects from all eras and cultures are kept there and prepared and stored accordingly to protect them from decay.

In three heart-rending acts named “The Woman,” “The Lover,” and “The Heroine,” a poignant tale unfolds on the Florentine stage: the prince’s mistress Stephana falls in love with lieutenant Vassili and follows him to a labor camp where her plan to escape with her beloved leads to her own tragic fate…

A ruthless dictator falls in love with a sexy woman. Together, they get rid of every obstacle in their way: his wife, her former lover, and also the voice of reason. Everything is sacrificed to passion, in this tale where evil triumphs, virtue and reason are humiliated, and nothing corresponds to our moral principles. Jan Lauwers, the director and choreographer, sets L'incoronazione di Poppea in a way congenial to his means: a visual artist, he translated the emotions expressed by Monteverdi’s music into dancing and visual images. The result was mixed; the general impression was one of many ideas, seemingly not fully developed or analysed. The stage was constantly cluttered with moving bodies, or tableau vivants, leaving a sense of confusion, and distracting from the music.

Giordano’s passionate tragedy stars tenor Piotr Beczała as the virtuous poet who falls victim to the intrigue and violence of the French Revolution. Following their celebrated recent partnership in Giordano’s Fedora in the 2022–23 Live in HD season, Beczała reunites with soprano Sonya Yoncheva as Chénier’s aristocratic lover, Maddalena di Coigny, with baritone Igor Golovatenko as Carlo Gérard, the agent of the Reign of Terror who seals their fates.

Willy Decker’s stunning production of Verdi’s unforgettable drama stars the riveting singing actress Natalie Dessay as Violetta. Exhausted by her restless life as a courtesan, Violetta knows she will die soon. But then she meets the young and idealistic Alfredo (Matthew Polenzani), who offers her true love—with tragic consequences. Dmitri Hvorostovsky is Giorgio Germont, Alfredo’s stern father, and Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi is on the podium.