The Works & Process at the Guggenheim will present “The Metropolitan Opera’s ‘Agrippina’” on Jan. 20, 2020.

The event will feature a discussion between Metropolitan Opera general manager Peter Gelb and many of the key production and cast team members for the forthcoming rendition of Handel’s famed work. There will also be performances of the sections from the opera, which is set to open on Feb. 6, 2020.

“Agrippina” will be headlined by Joyce DiDonato with Brenda Rae as Poppea, Kate Lindsey as Nerone, Iestyne Davies as Ottone, Duncan Rock as Pallante, and Matthew Rose as Claudio. The production will be conducted by Harry Bicket with David McVicar directing.

This is the first time in the Met Opera’s history that the company will present the Handel Opera. McVicar has noted that he will transplant the production from its Roman Empire setting to a more modern one.

“I wanted to make it far more immediate to the audience because the topics it deals with are never going to leave us,” McVicar said of his interpretation of the work on the Met Opera’s official website.  “People have been behaving badly in positions of power since time immemorial and still are now. So I wanted the world to be one that the audience would recognize.”