The Met’s 2016-2017 season opens on September 26 with a new production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, directed by Mariusz Trelinski, and starring Nina Stemme and Stuart Skelton. The season will include the Met premiere of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho’s 2000 opera L’Amour de Loin, as well as new stagings of Rossini’s Guillaume Tell, Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Dvorak’s Rusalka, and Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier.

On October 18, Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi leads the premiere of Pierre Audi’s new staging of Rossini’s Guillaume Tell. The new production will star Gerald Finley, Marina Rebeka, and Bryan Hymel in the central roles. On December 1, L’Amour de Loin has its Met premiere, led by Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki in her company debut, directed by Robert Lepage, and starring Susanna Phillips, Tamara Mumford, and Eric Owens.

A new production of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette will open on New Year’s Eve, with Gianandrea Noseda conducting Bartlett Sher’s staging and Diana Damrau and Vittorio Grigolo as the star-crossed lovers Rusalka (opening February 2), conducted by Sir Mark Elder and directed by Mary Zimmerman, will star Kristine Opolais and Brandon Jovanovich.

On April 13, the company will unveil its first new staging in more than 40 years of Richard Strauss’s wistful comedy Der Rosenkavalier, conducted by Met Music Director James Levine and directed by Robert Carsen, with Renée Fleming in her signature role of the Marschallin and Elina Garanca in her company role debut as Octavian; Günther Groissböck sings Baron Ochs.

A gala concert on May 7, 2017 will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the company’s Lincoln Center location with performances by opera’s leading stars honoring the Met’s past and future. Artists scheduled to appear include Piotr Beczala, Ben Bliss, Javier Camarena, Diana Damrau, Joyce DiDonato, Plácido Domingo, Michael Fabiano, Renée Fleming, Juan Diego Flórez, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Elina Garanca, Susan Graham, Mariusz Kwiecien, Isabel Leonard, James Levine, Zeljko Lucic, Amanda Majeski, Angela Meade, James Morris, Anna Netrebko, Kristine Opolais, Eric Owens, René Pape, Matthew Polenzani, Rolando Villazón, Michael Volle, Pretty Yende, and Sonya Yoncheva.

The 2016-17 season of The Met: Live in HD will kick off October 8 with the 100th presentation in series history, Tristan und Isolde. The series will continue with Don Giovanni (October 22), L’Amour de Loin (December 10), Nabucco (January 7), Roméo et Juliette (January 21), Rusalka (February 25), La Traviata (March 11), Idomeneo (March 25), Eugene Onegin (April 22), and Der Rosenkavalier (May 13).

Elusive Heldentenor Jonas Kaufmann will neither be seen nor heard at any point during the season.

Ticket prices will not increase, remaining the same as in the current season, and audience development programs instituted by the company in recent years will continue.

Repertory highlights include Anna Netrebko in a revival Puccini’s Manon Lescaut opposite Marcelo Álvarez as des Grieux and Christopher Maltman as Lescaut. The Russian diva will also reprise Tatiana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, this time paired with Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Onegin. Alexey Dolgov will sing Lenski in the revival, conducted by Robin Ticciati.

James Levine will conduct Mozart’s Idomeneo, starring Matthew Polenzani, Elza van den Heever as Elettra, Nadine Sierra as Ilia, Alice Coote as Idamante, and Alan Opie as Arbace. The maestro also leads a revival of  L’Italiana in Algeri, also in a Ponnelle production, featuring Elizabeth DeShong as Isabella, debuting American tenor René Barbera as Lindoro, Nicola Alaimo as Taddeo, and Ildar Abdrazakov as Mustafà.

Jenufa will star Oksana Dyka in the title role, with Karita Mattila, taking on the new role of the fanatical Kostelnicka.  Alfano’s Cyrano de Bergerac will star Roberto Alagna and Patricia Racette as the lovelorn title character and his beloved Roxane, both in company role debuts. Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio, will be presented for the first time since 2006, with Sebastian Weigle conducting Adrianne Pieczonka as Leonore, Klaus Florian Vogt as Florestan, Hanna-Elisabeth Müller in her Met debut as Marzelline, Greer Grimsley as Don Pizarro, and Falk Struckmann as Rocco.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads a revival of Der Fliegende Holländer, starring Michael Volle as the Dutchman and Amber Wagner as Senta. Diana Damrau and Javier Camarena will team for I Puritani.

Peter Mattei will star in the title role of Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, opposite Pretty Yende, who returns to the Met to sing a new bel canto heroine, Rosina. Javier Camarena and Dmitry Korchak sing Almaviva in the revival, conducted by Maurizio Benini. Richard Strauss’s Salome will star Catherine Naglestad.

Aida will feature Liudmyla Monastyrska and Latonia Moore reprising their roles as the title princess, alternating with Krassimira Stoyanova in her first Met performances of the role. Ekaterina Gubanova and Violeta Urmana sing Amneris, and Marco Berti, Riccardo Massi, and debuting tenor Jorge de León sing the hero Radamès. The opera will be conducted by Marco Armiliato and, in his Met debut, Daniele Rustioni.

Nabucco, conducted by Levine, will feature Plácido Domingo in a new Met role as the title character. Liudmyla Monastyrska sings Nabucco’s willful daughter Abigaille, with Jamie Barton as Fenena, Russell Thomas as Ismaele, and Dmitry Belosselskiy reprising the role of his 2011 Met debut as Zaccaria. La Traviata, conducted by Nicola Luisotti, will star Sonya Yoncheva and Carmen Giannattasio as Violetta, Michael Fabiano and Atalla Ayan (in his Met debut) as Alfredo, and Thomas Hampson, George Petean, and Plácido Domingo as Giorgio Germont.

Yoncheva will also star in the opening performances of a revival of Puccini’s La Bohème, singing Mimì opposite the Rodolfo of debuting tenor Dmytro Popov.

Sharing the title role of Carmen will be Sophie Koch and debuting artist Clémentine Margaine. Mozart’s Don Giovanni returns for a 16-performance run with multiple casts, most of whom are singing their roles for the first time at the Met.

Isabel Leonard will also star as Charlotte in Massenet’s Werther, opposite Vittorio Grigolo in his first Met performances as the title character.

Photo by Kristian Schuller/Metropolitan Opera.

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