Ivo van Hove's DON GIOVANNI, Terence Blanchard's CHAMPION & More to Headline The Metropolitan Opera Spring Season

Simon McBurney will also make his Met debut a with new production of Die Zauberflöte.

By: Chloe Rabinowitz Feb. 09, 2023

Ivo van Hove's DON GIOVANNI, Terence Blanchard's CHAMPION & More to Headline The Metropolitan Opera Spring Season Image

The Metropolitan Opera will open its 2022-23 spring season on February 26 with a new production of Wagner's Lohengrin conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Met's Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director, who will also lead two other spring productions: the company premiere of Terence Blanchard's Champion and a revival of Puccini's La Bohème-the first time the maestro has conducted the work at the Met.

Lohengrin, performed at the Met in its inaugural season in 1883 and put on at the house more than any other Wagner opera, returns to the stage for the first time in 17 years, in a new production by director François Girard. The creative team includes Academy Award-winning set and costume designer Tim Yip, who, in his Met debut, has created innovative color-changing cloaks for the chorus. Tenor Piotr Beczała joins a cast of Wagnerian singers in the title role of the mysterious swan knight, along with sopranos Tamara Wilson, Elena Stikhina, and Christine Goerke; bass-baritone Evgeny Nikitin; and bass Günther Groissböck.

Bellini's Norma, which drew sold-out audiences in David McVicar's 2017 production, runs February 28-March 25, with superstar soprano Sonya Yoncheva in the title role, following her lauded performances as Fedora in January. Mezzo soprano Ekaterina Gubanova, tenor Michael Spyres, and bass-baritone Christian Van Horn round out the cast.

Verdi's comedy Falstaff kicks off on March 12 in Robert Carsen's celebrated staging, starring baritone Michael Volle as Shakespeare's rotund scoundrel. His trio of clever women tormenters are soprano Ailyn Pérez, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano, and contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux. Soprano Hera Hyesang Park, tenor Bodgan Volkov, and baritone Christopher Maltman round out the cast. Maestro Daniele Rustioni conducts.

Soprano Lise Davidsen, one of the most acclaimed voices of her generation, interprets the Marschallin in Strauss's grand yet wistful comedy Der Rosenkavalier, (March 27-April 20), a major role debut. The cast also includes soprano Erin Morley, mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey, and bass Günther Groissböck, conducted by Maestro Simone Young.

Anchoring the spring lineup is the highly anticipated Met premiere of Champion, Blanchard's first opera, which opens on April 10. Receiving universal acclaim last season with Fire Shut Up in My Bones-a production which recently earned a Grammy Award-Blanchard returns with the haunting true story of Emile Griffith, a boxer who killed an opponent in the ring. The cast features bass-baritones Ryan Speedo Green and Eric Owens, soprano Latonia Moore, and mezzo-sopranos Stephanie Blythe and Meredith Arwady. Under the direction of James Robinson, the creative team includes Camille A. Brown, whose choreography electrified audiences in Fire and in the recent production of the Gershwins' Porgy and Bess. Champion will be a highlight during a year-long, Lincoln Center-wide celebration of Blanchard, an opera and film composer, jazz musician, and educator.

Puccini's timeless tragedy La Bohème returns April 21-June 9, with Maestro Nézet-Séguin conducting the piece for the first time at the Met. Soprano Eleonora Buratto and tenor Stephen Costello lead a cast that also features soprano Sylvia D'Eramo and baritone Davide Luciano. Later in the run, James Gaffigan conducts a second cast that includes sopranos Susanna Phillips and Latonia Moore, tenor Charles Castronovo, and baritone Quinn Kelsey.

A Mozart double-header wraps up this season's slate of new productions. Tony Award-winning director Ivo van Hove makes his Met debut with Don Giovanni, which opens on May 5. The cast includes one of today's greatest interpreters of the opera's title role, baritone Peter Mattei, as well as sopranos Federica Lombardi, Ana María Martínez, and Ying Fang; tenor Ben Bliss; and bass-baritones Adam Plachetka and Alfred Walker.

Die Zauberflöte opens on May 19 in its first new Met staging in 19 years, in a production by renowned director Simon McBurney, in his company debut. In his innovative new take-replete with projections, acrobats, and sound effects-the orchestra will perform on a raised platform, so the musicians can interact with the singers. The cast will include sopranos Erin Morley and Kathryn Lewek; tenor Lawrence Brownlee; baritone Thomas Oliemans, in his Met debut; and bass Stephen Milling. Both Mozart productions are led by Maestro Nathalie Stutzmann, a gifted contralto and conductor who was recently named music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

In addition, five other classics of the Met's repertory-Verdi's La Traviata and Aida, Puccini's Tosca, Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore, and Wagner's Der Fliegende Holländer-return for spring runs with a number of acclaimed singers, including Marcelo Álvarez, Krzysztof Bączyk, Dmitry Belosselskiy, Angel Blue, Michelle Bradley, Eric Cutler, Alex Esposito, Yusif Eyvazov, George Gagnidze, Angela Gheorghiu, Jonah Hoskins, Tomasz Konieczny, Želijko Lučić, Liudmyla Monastyrska, Olesya Petrova, Dmytro Popov, Artur Ruciński, Richard Trey Smagur, and Elza van den Heever.

The conducting roster includes Paolo Carignani, Michele Gamba, Thomas Guggeis, Domingo Hindoyan, and Nicola Luisotti.

Below is a complete listing of the Met's new productions and revivals by opening date this spring:

February