The Metropolitan Opera announced today its 2026-27 season. A quick glance over the details prompts me to find it all in all a pleasant surprise.
When the company recently disclosed details of its dire financial status, it mentioned that it was postponing its planned new production of Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina, so there will be just five new productions beginning with a new Macbeth on Opening Night directed by Louisa Proske starring Lise Davidsen in her first staged Lady conspiring with Quinn Kelsey. The pair will preview their collaboration in May with two concert performances under Sir Antonio Pappano in Copenhagen.
As I love Puccini’s best (?) opera, I’m excited that Sondra Radvanovsky will undertake what she has said will be her final new role when the Met mounts a new La fanciulla del West for her co-starring SeokJong Baek and Christopher Maltman, conducted by Keri-Lynn Wilson. Richard Jones’s production was once scheduled for the Detroit Opera but canceled there due to that company’s rocky finances.
On May 25, an all-star gala will celebrate 60 years at Lincoln Center and earlier in the season Asmik Grigorian will sing a recital accompanied by a piano-duo. Claus Guth’s production of Janacek’s amazing Jenufa comes to the Met after performances in London and Chicago, conducted by Tomas Hanus with Grigorian and Nina Stemme heading a superb cast that also includes Allan Clayton and Sean Panikkar.
I eagerly anticipating the first opera by Missy Mazzoli to come to the Met; it will be the world premiere of Lincoln on the Bardo based on the novel by George Saunders. Director Lileana Blain-Cruz’s cast will be headed by Peter Mattei in the title role and Christine Goerke as The Reverend.
Kevin Puts’s popular 2011 Silent Night will come to the Met from the Houston Grand Opera in a James Robinson production which premiered there just last month. Its eclectic stellar cast includes Elza van den Heever, Ben Bliss, Rolando Villazon, Kyle Ketelsen and tenor Ben Reisinger who recently won the Hildegard Behrens Foundation Award. Dalia Stasevska in her Met debut conducts.
As someone who went bonkers over Elina Garanca’s Amneris, I’m thrilled to note that she will be bringing her Kundry to New York when François Girard’s Parsifal returns once again with the amazing Mattei as Amfortas. The title role will be taken by Piotr Beczala whose recent Met history has been clouded by strain and illness but this Wagner part should suit him admirably. Jongmin Park, who has sung eighteen Collines with the Met since 2019, jumps into the spotlight as Gurnemanz while Ryan Speedo Green repeats Klingsor, a role with which he had great success at the Glyndebourne Festival.
Besides Lincoln and Parsifal, YNS also leads Der Rosenkavalier while Principal Guest Conductor Daniele Rustioni in charge of just Otello, Tosca and Bohème revivals.
The season’s other German opera will be Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier with Rachel Willis-Sørensen, Emily D’Angelo, and Ying Fang having to contend with the inevitable Günther Groissböck.
Nineteenth century French opera will be represented by Massenet’s Manon starring Nadine Sierra opposite not the expected Benjamin Bernheim but veteran Matthew Polenzani as her Des Grieux. Darko Tresnjak‘s garish Samson et Dalila production returns with the potentially exciting pairing of Aigul Ackmetshina and debuting Clay Hilley in the title roles with Kelsey taking on the Grand-Priest for the first time.
Having impressed audiences as Donna Anna, the Countess and Elettra, Federica Lombardi adds Fiordiligi to her Met Mozart roles when the company’s widely disliked Coney Island production of Così fan Tutte returns with Samantha Hankey as Dorabella and Ana Maria Martinez‘s Despina plotting with Gerald Finley‘s Don Alfonso.
The annual holiday run of Julie Taymor’s Magic Flute production allows Kathryn Lewek the opportunity to sing Pamina for a change as well as a few more Queens of the Night and Musetta.
Two runs of Otello include Michael Fabiano and Angel Blue making Met role debuts along with Amartushvin Enhkbat as Iago. Brian Jagde who first sang the title role of Otello in Madrid this season brings his Moor to the Met for the opera’s first performances there since 2019 partnered with Ailyn Pérez and Artur Rucinski conducted by Mario Mariotti who has been absent from the Met since 2015. Numerous performances of Michael Mayer’s Aida will feature surprise return of Judit Katasi as Amneris and Anna Pirozzi and Leah Hawkins sharing the title role with Angel Blue. Michael Fabiano sings Radames for the first time with the company.
Bel canto is represented by a revival of Sir David McVicar’s production of Maria Stuarda with Lisette Oropesa and Angela Meade featured in its central cat-fight. And the wildly uneven Sonia Yoncheva sang Cherubini’s Médée in its original French version at the Berlin Staatsoper. But for the Met she’ll turn to the yukky 19th century Italian adaption in which she’ll murder Michael Spyres‘s children.
Umpteen performances of Puccini’s La Bohème and Tosca will feature countless cast changes and include notable debuts by Erika Grimaldi as Mimi, Saoia Hernandez and Natalya Romaniw as Tosca, Gabriele Viviani as Scarpia. And yet more Stephen Costello Rodolfos!
In addition to Parsifal, I’m most eager to find out whether I’ll like Silent Night more than I did the composer’s The Hours and to experience my first Mazzoli work in person. I’m going to really miss Khovanshchina and pray that Simon McBurney’s production will be quickly rescheduled. Jenufa is a favorite opera and Janacek has been absent too long from the Met and the potentially electric pairing of Grigorian and Stemme could be really thrilling. I love Macbeth and really look forward to Davidsen and Kelsey.
What is unmissable for you next season at Lincoln Center?
