The Metropolitan Opera to Open 2024–25 Season With Jeanine Tesori's GROUNDED

The Metropolitan Opera will open its 139th season with the company premiere of two-time Tony Award–winning composer Jeanine Tesori and librettist George Brant's new opera, Grounded, on Monday, September 23, at 6:30PM. Tesori's company debut marks the first of two operas by female composers to be commissioned by the Met; Lincoln in the Bardo by Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek will premiere in the 2025–26 season.

This multi-character adaptation of George Brant's acclaimed play is a production that wrestles with the ethical quandaries and psychological toll of 21st-century warfare. Canadian mezzo-soprano Emily D'Angelo, for whom Tesori wrote this role, portrays Jess, an F-16 fighter pilot whose unplanned pregnancy forces her into a new assignment, operating a Reaper drone in Afghanistan from a trailer in Nevada. As she struggles to balance life as a wife to Eric and mother to her daughter, Sam, she fights to maintain her sanity and moral compass at work where she is called to rain down death remotely.

The Met's Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin—whose contract was recently extended through the 2029–30 season—conducts the Met premiere of Tesori's newly revised score and leads a cast that also features tenor Ben Bliss as Eric, the Wyoming rancher who becomes Jess's husband. Soprano Kirsten MacKinnon and baritone Kyle Miller make their Met debuts as Also Jess and the Sensor, respectively, with bass-baritone Greer Grimsley returning to the Met as the Commander. Steven Osgood conducts the October 5 performance of Grounded.

“Grounded as the 2024–25 season opener reflects our commitment to expanding the operatic canon with works that comment on the world in which we live,” said Peter Gelb, the company's Maria Manetti Shrem General Manager. “It is with operas such as Grounded that the Met is attracting a younger and broader audience. We're proud to be presenting it.”

“Music challenges us to be the best version of ourselves,” says Maestro Nézet-Séguin. “The Met is invested in being a part of that sacred journey, and my hope is that the music, whether that of Tesori or Puccini, Adams or Verdi, touches the deepest parts of our audiences' souls and guides us into a shared humanity that reflects what it truly means to be human. Grounded does just that, sparking dialogue around mental health and post-traumatic stress. All human experiences should be represented in our art form.”

“This project began ten years ago when I was approached to write an opera for the Met, a company I've loved for decades. I am honored and incredibly grateful to tell this story with librettist George Brant and with these wonderful artists. My hope is that I can entice audiences who love Broadway or musical theater to come uptown a few blocks to the Met and fall in love with opera too,” said Tesori.

“It has been an honor to adapt Grounded into operatic form with Jeanine Tesori, a composer whose work has been a source of joy and inspiration to me for many years,” Brant said. “The opportunity to bring this story and its concerns to a new audience at the Met, with Michael Mayer at the helm, is a privilege.”

Director Michael Mayer's high-tech staging, using a vast array of LED screens, presents a variety of perspectives, immersing audiences in the action. The creative team also includes set designer Mimi Lien, costume designer Tom Broecker, co-projection designers Jason H. Thompson and Kaitlyn Pietras, sound designer Palmer Hefferan, and choreographer David Neumann—all making their Met debuts. Lighting designer Kevin Adams returns to the company, along with dramaturg Paul Cremo, who is also director of the Met's Opera Commissioning Program.

Following Opening Night on September 23, there are seven additional performances through October 19.

The 2024–25 season also includes three more Met premieres—Osvaldo Golijov's Ainadamar (Oct. 15–Nov. 9); Jake Heggie's Moby-Dick (Mar. 3–29), following the company premiere of his first opera, Dead Man Walking, last season; and John Adams's Antony and Cleopatra (May 12–Jun. 7), the fifth of the composer's works presented on Met stage—as well as new productions of Verdi's Aida—also directed by Michael Mayer—(Dec. 31–Jan. 25, Mar. 14–29, Apr. 27–May 9) and Strauss's Salome (Apr. 29–May 24), and revivals of works by Beethoven, Puccini, Offenbach, Rossini, Mozart, and Tchaikovsky.

Grounded Worldwide Broadcasts in Cinema, on Radio, and Online

The performance of Grounded on Saturday, October 19, will be transmitted live to movie theaters around the globe as part of The Met: Live in HD series. Additionally, students and educators across the country will receive complimentary access to screenings of Grounded at their local theaters as part of HD Live in Schools. As part of this program, the opera will also be transmitted live, for free, into participating high schools in Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island.

The performances of Grounded on September 23 and October 9 will be broadcast live on Metropolitan Opera Radio on the SiriusXM app and streamed live on the Met's website, metopera.org. Audio from the October 19 performance will be rebroadcast over The Robert K. Johnson Foundation–Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network on Saturday, December 14.

In conjunction with the performances of Grounded, the Met is scheduled to host a number of public programs. The full list of events and details are below.

Grounded Public Programs and Special Events

Second Sundays

Sunday, September 8, 1PM

Pioneer Works, 159 Pioneer St, Brooklyn

Composer Jeanine Tesori and librettist George Brant conduct a conversation around the ethics of drone warfare, the gamification of remote piloting, and the psychological toll of 21st-century warfare, as depicted in their opera Grounded. Mezzo-soprano Emily D'Angelo and Tesori will also perform excerpts from the opera. Free; registration is required, click here.

Works & Process at the Guggenheim: Grounded

Monday, September 9, 7PM

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Peter B. Lewis Theater, 1071 Fifth Avenue

Experience highlights from two-time Tony Award–winning composer Jeanine Tesori and librettist George Brant's powerful new opera, Grounded. Met General Manager Peter Gelb moderates a discussion with the Met Music Director and Grounded conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, director Michael Mayer, Tesori, and Brant. Mezzo-soprano Emily D'Angelo, tenor Ben Bliss, and soprano Kirsten MacKinnon perform selections from the opera. For further details, please click here.

History & Innovation Series: Women in the Military

Friday, September 13, 6:30PM Doors, 7PM

Intrepid Museum, Lutnick Theater, Pier 86, W 46th Street

The Intrepid Museum and the Metropolitan Opera team up for a behind-the-scenes program exploring the Met's newest opera, Grounded. A special performance from mezzo-soprano Emily D'Angelo opens the evening, followed by a panel discussion hosted by General Dana Born and featuring Lieutenant Colonel Tammy Barlette, composer Jeanine Tesori, and D'Angelo reflecting on how work affects their domestic life, the roles of service to one's country and one's home, and the challenges of balancing service and domestic life. Free; registration is required, click here. 

Grace Under Fire: Moth Stories Inspired by the Met's Grounded

Monday, September 16, 7PM Doors, 7:30PM Event

The Metropolitan Opera, Mercedes T. Bass Grand Tier

The Moth Mainstage comes to the Met for a night of vibrant true stories. Hosted by comedian Tara Clancy, four storytellers including composer Jeanine Tesori, former fighter pilot Rochelle Kimbrell, professor and author Tarek El-Ariss, and Moth storyteller Michael Fisher, come together to share tales connected to the opera Grounded. The evening ends with a special performance from mezzo-soprano Emily D'Angelo. The stories are recorded for future episodes of The Moth Podcast and The Moth Radio Hour.

Free; registration is required and opens in the coming weeks. 

For more information on all public programming, click here.

Fridays Under 40

The Met's Friday's Under 40 series continues every Friday night with discounted tickets for audiences aged 40 and under. On Friday, September 27, there will be a special pre-performance party prior to the performance of Grounded. Learn more about Fridays Under 40 here.

For More Information

For further details on Grounded, including casting by date, please click here.

Photo credit: Paoala Kudacki / Met Opera

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