Met Opera

Puccini’s beloved story of young love in Paris. Beautiful melodies, wintery romance, and one of opera’s most emotional final scenes keep it a perennial favorite.

Mozart's satirical comedy of fickle young love is one of his most sublime creations, and Phelim McDermott's inventive staging swaps the usual palace backdrop for a 1950s Coney Island boardwalk. The two pairs of lovers at the heart of the story end up on a ride that's both literal and emotional, in a production The New York Times called "colorful, inventive."

Julie Taymor, the Tony Award winning director of Broadway's The Lion King, turns Mozart's fable into a dazzling, English language holiday tradition, with vibrant sets, colorful costumes, and puppetry that steals the show. At under 90 minutes, it's the rare grand opera house night that works as a first opera for kids and a warm one for everyone else.

Verdi's Shakespearean tragedy gets a heavyweight cast: Michael Fabiano and Brian Jagde alternate the tour-de-force title role, with Angel Blue and Ailyn Perez as the doomed Desdemona. Many call this the ultimate Italian opera, and the Met's full orchestra and chorus bring the score to its most monumental scale.

Donizetti's bel canto showdown pits two queens against each other: Lisette Oropesa's doomed Mary, Queen of Scots, and Angela Meade's ruthless Elizabeth I, both in love with the same nobleman. Fresh off her acclaimed turn in I Puritani, Oropesa tackles one of the repertoire's most demanding roles under David McVicar's striking production, with Enrique Mazzola conducting.

Saint-Saëns's grand opera turns the biblical tale of the Philistine seductress and the strongman she brings down into a full-scale spectacle: massive orchestra, sweeping chorus, and some of the repertoire's most seductive melodies. Mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina and tenor Clay Hilley, in his Met debut, lead the larger-than-life production.

Puccini's classic thriller follows a jealous diva, the painter who loves her, and the police chief determined to destroy them both, staged across three vividly rendered Roman locations. David McVicar's production is as immersive as the plot is dramatic, with Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Principal Guest Conductor Daniele Rustioni alternating on the podium.