The MET Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is a vibrant home for the most creative and talented singers,
conductors, composers, musicians, stage directors, designers, visual artists,
choreographers, and dancers from around the world.
Presentations of the MET Performances at the Highlands Performing Arts Center. (Event prices include all fees and taxes)
February 12 12:55 PM
Fire Shut Up In My Bones
Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Grammy Award–winning jazz musician and composer Terence Blanchard’s adaptation of Charles M. Blow’s moving memoir. The first opera by a Black composer presented on the Met stage and featuring a libretto by filmmaker Kasi Lemmons, the opera tells a poignant and profound story about a young man’s journey to overcome a life of trauma and hardship.
February 26 12:55 PM
Rigoletto
The Met rings in the new year with the gala premiere of a bold new take on Verdi’s timeless tragedy from Bartlett Sher. The Tony Award–winning director resets the opera’s action in 1920s Europe, with Art Deco sets by Michael Yeargan and elegant costumes by Catherine Zuber, themselves boasting a combined eight Tony Awards. Baritone Quinn Kelsey, a commanding artist at the height of his powers, brings his searing portrayal of the title role to the Met for the first time, starring alongside soprano Rosa Feola as Gilda and tenor Piotr Beczała as the Duke of Mantua, with leading maestro Daniele Rustioni on the podium.
March 26 12:55 PM
Don Carlos
For the first time in company history, the Met presents the original five-act French version of Verdi’s epic opera of doomed love among royalty, set against the backdrop of the Spanish Inquisition. Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads a world-beating cast of opera’s leading lights in this March 26 performance, including tenor Matthew Polenzani in the title role, soprano Sonya Yoncheva as Élisabeth de Valois, and mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča as Eboli. Bass-baritones Eric Owens and John Relyea are Philippe II and the Grand Inquisitor, and baritone Étienne Dupuis rounds out the all-star principal cast as Rodrigue.
March 12 12:55 PM
ARIADNE AUF NAXOS
The exhilarating soprano Lise Davidsen brings one of her signature roles to the Met for the first time as the mythological Greek heroine of Strauss’s enchanting masterpiece. The outstanding cast also features mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard as the Composer of the opera-within-an-opera around which the plot revolves, with soprano Brenda Rae as the spirited Zerbinetta, tenor Brandon Jovanovich as Ariadne’s lover, the god Bacchus, and Thomas Allen as the Major-Domo. Marek Janowski conducts.
April 23 12:55 PM
Cinderella
When Sir Richard Eyre’s high-energy production of Bizet’s ever-popular Carmen had its Met premiere in 2009, it starred Roberto Alagna as Don José, the wayward officer whose desperate love for the title Gypsy proves their undoing. The French-Italian tenor reprised his celebrated portrayal during the 2018–19 season, including in this New Year’s Day performance, Laurent Pelly’s storybook staging of Massenet’s Cendrillon, a hit of the 2017–18 season, is presented with an all-new English translation in an abridged 90-minute adaptation, with mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard as its rags-to-riches princess. Maestro Emmanuel Villaume leads a delightful cast, which includes mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo as Cinderella’s Prince Charming, soprano Jessica Pratt as her Fairy Godmother, and mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe and bass-baritone Laurent Naouri as her feuding guardians.
May 7 12:55 PM
Turandot
Two of today’s most thrilling voices share the title role of the legendary cold-hearted princess: Christine Goerke, the Met’s reigning dramatic soprano, and superstar Anna Netrebko, making her long-awaited Met role debut after providing a hair-raising preview in 2019’s New Year’s Eve Gala. Tenors Yusif Eyvazov and Yonghoon Lee trade off as the bold prince determined to win Turandot’s love, alongside sopranos Gabriella Reyes, Michelle Bradley, and Ermonela Jaho as the devoted servant Liù and bass-baritone James Morris and basses Alexander Tsymbalyuk and Ferruccio Furlanetto as the blind king Timur. Marco Armiliato conducts Puccini’s stirring score.
May 21 12:55 PM
Lucia di Lammermoor
In recent seasons, soprano Nadine Sierra has brought down the house at the Met with virtuosic vocalism and captivating stage presence as Gilda in Rigoletto, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Ilia in Idomeneo. Now, she takes on one of the repertory’s most formidable and storied roles, the haunted heroine of Lucia di Lammermoor, in an electrifying new staging by in-demand Australian theater and film director Simon Stone, conducted by Riccardo Frizza. Show-stopping tenor Javier Camarena adds to the bel canto fireworks as Lucia’s beloved, Edgardo, with baritone Artur Ruciński as her overbearing brother, Enrico, and bass Matthew Rose as her tutor, Raimondo.
June 4 12:55 PM
Hamlet
When Australian composer Brett Dean’s Hamlet had its world premiere at the Glyndebourne Festival in 2017, The Guardian declared, “New opera doesn’t often get to sound this good … Shakespeare offers a gauntlet to composers that shouldn’t always be picked up, but Dean’s Hamlet rises to the challenge.” Now, this riveting contemporary masterpiece arrives at the Met, with Neil Armfield, who directed the work’s premiere, bringing his acclaimed staging to New York. Many of the original cast members have followed, including tenor Allan Clayton in the title role. Nicholas Carter makes his Met debut conducting a remarkable ensemble, which also features soprano Brenda Rae as Ophelia, mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly as Gertrude, baritone Rod Gilfry as Claudius, and legendary bass John Tomlinson as the ghost of Hamlet’s father.