The Talk of the Town

Next season I’m excited for Lincoln in the Bardo

George Saunders’s unforgettable novel about the greatest sorrow known to humankind—surviving the loss of a child and letting go—work as sung theater by Missy Mazzoli.

By Peter Russell

September 7, 2026

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Peter Mattei in Don Giovanni at the Metropolitan Opera / Photo: Karen Almond

The Met has a first-rate cast on offer including, to play a president often in Americans’ thoughts nowadays, the luminous Peter Mattei. He’s such an artist he could probably even make us care about our 47th President if he portrayed him in an opera. But please don’t anyone set that to music now. Not even as farce.