(Credit: MetropolItan Opera / Ken Howard) WARNING: This review features explicit language. It also uses some variation of the word “frustrating” a lot. To use a line from the cathartic and sublime climax in Jeanine Tesori and George Brant’s “Grounded” – “What the f*ck?” That quotidian expression perfectly encapsulates, in the context of the climax and at large, the frustration {…}
The Metropolitan Opera season is only one week away and with a new season comes anticipated new productions and revivals and will showcase some of the world’s best singers. So without further ado here are OperaWire’s most anticipated productions of the 2024-25 season. Ainadamar As listed in the 10 operas to see this fall, the Osvaldo Golijov is one of {…}
The Metropolitan Opera has announced that it will be presenting “Harry Connick, Jr: A Celebration of Cole Porter,” a five-day special presentation from Jan. 29- Feb. 2, 2025. The showcase is a revival of Connick’s 2019 Broadway production and is presented in association with Adrienne Arsht. “This show has been a project that’s incredibly close to my heart, so to {…}
(Photo: Paola Kudacki / Met Opera) The composer and librettist of the upcoming opera “Grounded” have admitted that the Metropolitan Opera version that will premiere on Sept. 22 was cut by 45 minutes. In a New York Times article, Jeanine Tesori and the playwright George Brant said, “They have spent the past year making substantial revisions that, among other things, {…}
(Credit: William Jess Laird) The Metropolitan Opera has partnered with ELLE DECOR to redesign the newly minted Keebler J. Straz Lounge, formerly known as the Eleanor Belmont Room. The renovation project has been underwritten by Met Managing Director Keebler J. Straz, the youngest Managing Director on the Metropolitan Opera Board of Directors, in partnership with ELLE DECOR, who helped secure {…}
(Credit: Met Opera Website) Michael Heaston has been promoted to the position of Deputy General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera. Heaston made the announcement on social media on August 26, 2024 noting that “As I continue my work overseeing the incredible artistic department, season planning, and casting, I will now also be collaborating across all departments of the company to {…}
The Metropolitan Opera has announced that Yuval Sharon will be directing new productions of “Tristan und Isolde” and “Der Ring des Nibelungen.” Sharon will make his Met debut during the 2025−26 season with a new production of “Tristan und Isolde” (conducted by Nézet-Séguin, with Lise Davidsen as Isolde). Then in 2026-27, he debuts his new Ring cycle with Davidsen as {…}
The fall 2024 Works & Process season has been announced. The events will take place at the Guggenheim Museum, Manhattan West, and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Here is a look at the operatic events. The Metropolitan Opera will present “Grounded” by Jeanine Tesori and George Brant. The event will highlight parts of the opera which {…}
The Metropolitan Opera has confirmed two upcoming new works. In an Instagram post, the company said, “Missy Mazzoli is composing an opera based on George Saunders’s ‘Lincoln in the Bardo,’ with a libretto by Royce Vavrek, which is slated to premiere at LA Opera in early 2026 and arrives at the Met in fall 2026. Mason Bates is writing an {…}
(Credit: Brigitte Lacombe) While the Metropolitan Opera is finishing its season with 72 percent of tickets sold, increasing consistently and showing a growth of six percent compared to the 2022-23 season, a lot of questions remain as Met’s General Manager Peter Gelb and the company head into the off-season. When Peter Gelb and Yannick Nezet-Seguin were answering questions for the {…}
On June 14, 2024, the Metropolitan Opera presented its second program to its Carnegie Hall series which is set to go on tour later this month. The program combined the works of Wagner, Debussy, and Bartók. The result was an uneven opening half and a second half that was perhaps one of the best operatic performances of the entire Met {…}