(Credit: Jonathan Tichler / Met Opera) The Metropolitan Opera has announced that it is laying off workers, cutting salaries of its top-paid executives, and postponing a new production from its 2026-27 season. The company’s General manager Peter Gelb told the New York Times that he was forced to take these steps due to concerns with the Saudi Arabia deal, under {…}
Jonas Kaufmann has revealed that he will not be returning to the Metropolitan Opera or the Royal Opera House. In a new interview with the Times of London which is set to air on Jan. 2 on the BBC, the tenor said that he had no plans with either theaters for several reasons. At the Met, Kaufmann said he didn’t {…}
(Credit: Jonathan Tichler / Met Opera) The Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition has named Camila Romero of Chile and Valeria Delmé of Argentina as the winners of its inaugural South America Region auditions. Both sopranos will advance directly to the Semifinals of the competition, scheduled for March 15, 2026, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Romero and Delmé were selected {…}
On December 2, 2025, the Metropolitan Opera delivered a ray of sunshine with a jubilant opening of Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess.” Last seen on the Met stage in their 2021 season, this year’s run featured new and returning artists who all came together for something as uplifting as it was exciting. In regard to James Robinson’s production, many of my {…}
Nate, the activist who led the November 21, 2025, disruption of the Metropolitan Opera’s “Carmen,” has issued an open letter addressed to the cast, creative team, and members of the public seeking clarity on the group’s motivations. The letter, which was sent to OperaWire, was written following Smith’s release from Manhattan’s central booking facility and outlines both an apology to {…}
(Credit: Karen Almond / Met Opera) Giordano’s “Andrea Chénier” is a glorious opera. Full of lush melodies, an elegant libretto, tense dramatic set pieces, and a propulsive pace it always baffles me how little attention it has gotten at the Metropolitan Opera in recent years. Since premiering in 1921, it has had 186 performances with the most recent prior to {…}
On Saturday, Nov. 22, the Metropolitan Opera put on its, in my view, unfortunate production of “Carmen.” While Carmen gets into a fight with one of the other factory girls, chaos erupts as the security guards try to regain control. At this moment in the production, a white man dressed in black came onto the stage and started dancing. He {…}
(Credit: Jonathan Tichler / Met Opera) The Metropolitan Opera has confirmed that a breach in security allowed two protesters to go onstage during the Nov. 21 performance of “Carmen.” The New York Times is reporting that a recent interview with General Manager Peter Gelb revealed that one of the two guards assigned to sit at each end of the front row {…}
(PHOTO CREDIT – Richard Termine) The Metropolitan Opera’s first-ever high-definition cinema transmission, Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” is headed back to cinemas this holiday season. The performance, which originally aired on Dec. 30, 2006 and will head to screens in U.S. cinemas on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025 with international dates varying in locations including Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Spain, Sweden, and more. {…}
(Credit: Ken Howard / Metropolitan Opera) The Metropolitan Opera’s annual holiday presentation of Julie Taymor’s English-language adaptation of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” returns for 15 performances. The opera will be performed between Dec. 11 and Jan. 3, and will be conducted by Steven White, and Erin Yashima. The work will star Rainelle Krause, Zhengyi Bai, Aigul Khismatullina, Erin Morley, Joshua {…}
( Credit: Ken Howard) On Friday, Nov. 21, the Metropolitan Opera experienced a protest during the first Act of “Carmen” that interrupted the performance. According to the New York Times, three demonstrators were arrested by the New York City police, and removed from the hall. The report did not make clear what they were protesting. Still, it noted that eyewitnesses {…}
