Saturday April 11th: The Metropolitan Opera New York presents Mozart's Don Giovanni
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts his first Met performances of Mozart's classic, with bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green in his Met role debut as the licentious Don. Ivo van Hove's production also features sopranos Federica Lombardi, Janai Brugger, and Hera Hyesang Park as Don Giovanni's three conquests, with tenor Ben Bliss and bass-baritone Adam Plachetka as Don Ottavio and Leporello. A second sensational cast then takes the stage for additional performances, led by Principal Guest Conductor Daniele Rustioni.
Saturday April 18th: The Metropolitan Opera New York presents Innocence by Saariaho
Depicting the wide web of trauma left in the wake of a school shooting, the late, great Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho's final opera is a raw and unflinching cri de coeur in response to the senseless violence of our modern age. Captivating with its eerie, darkly beautiful sound-world and diverse vocal styles, ranging from traditional opera to expressionistic speak-singing to Scandinavian folk music, Innocence, with libretto by prominent Finnish author Sofi Oksanen and Aleksi Barrière, was greeted upon its 2021 premiere by awestruck reviews and hailed as 'completely exhilarating' (The New York Times), 'a modern masterpiece' (The Telegraph). For its Met premiere-in Simon Stone's powerfully direct original production-the cast is anchored by mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato and Finnish ethno-pop singer Vilma Jää as a grieving mother and the daughter she lost in the shooting, as well as soprano Jacquelyn Stucker and tenor Miles Mykkanen as a young couple whose wedding, a decade after the tragedy, uncovers buried secrets and reopens old wounds. Maestro Susanna Mälkki, a close friend and collaborator of Saariaho's, conducts what she calls 'one of the most important works of our time.'
Saturday April 25th: The Metropolitan Opera New York presents La Sonnambula by Bellini
Following triumphant Met turns in Roméo et Juliette, La Traviata, and Lucia di Lammermoor, Nadine Sierra summits another peak of the soprano repertoire as Amina, who sleepwalks her way into audiences' hearts in Bellini's poignant tale of love lost and found. In his new production, Rolando Villazón - the tenor who has embarked on a brilliant second career as a director - retains the opera's original setting in the Swiss Alps but uses its somnambulant plot to explore the emotional and psychological valleys of the mind. Tenor Xabier Anduaga returns after his acclaimed 2023 Met debut in L'Elisir d'Amore, co-starring as Amina's fiancé Elvino, alongside soprano Sydney Mancasola as her rival, Lisa, and bass Alexander Vinogradov as Count Rodolfo. Riccardo Frizza takes the podium for one of opera's most ravishing works.
