The Metropolitan Opera 2023/2024 season

[@tomgoodman5140]

I will definitely see Tannhauser. Very attractive, traditional staging. Nothing else here excites me enough to get on a plane to NY. I saw Lohengrin this month and it was amazing. I wish they would stage more Wagner in general. Unless it's over-the-top eurotrashy I'll see it.

[@georgesclermont1911]

I'm with you for the scarcity of Wagner but I thought the Lohengrin was awful.

[@vittoriodipaola1375]

Totally agree about Wagner

[@biancacastafiore8760]

unfortunately the staging for Tannhäuser is so old that it now looks so dark and shabby. it’ll be a good performance for the ears but not visually.

[@richardallen3810]

I feel the same way. Was at the Bayreuth Festival in Aug for the Ring and 3 others. Yikes,what nightmare productions.

[@renatafriedenberg4292]

THANK you for video.

[@enriquerivera3140]

I am so excited to see Florencia en el Amazonas, the first mexican opera and sung in spanish on the Met stage 😍

[@MrQwerty88]

Not the first Spanish language though: The Spanish opera 'Goyescas' by Enrique Granados had 5 performances at the Met in 1916. Manuel de Falla's 'La Vida Breve' was performed in 1926. Maria Barrientos performed 3 Spanish songs at the Met in a concert in 1916. Concert of Spanish music Songs at the Met in 1926.

[@BellaFirenze]

Esta no es la primera ópera mexicana. Por seguro es la primera ópera mexicana presentada en este teatro.

[@enriquerivera3140]

@@MrQwerty88 Did not know that but it´s good to either, but always an opera in our native language is something to be happy

[@paragod333]

I don't speak Spanish, but I certainly love "Florencia". I have seen three different productions....all in Houston and all wonderful. I just wish Ana Maria Martinez was in the cast, in either of her two roles.

[@pcoffey1]

why?

[@ransomcoates546]

The Decline and Fall of a once glorious art form.

[@nonocoollll]

La Rondine is my favorite opera so I'm definitely looking forward to that !

[@TheKayaklover]

What can I say but the same thing I told my friend that works at The Met Chorus.?? .... The Metropolitan Opera WAS , in one word, GRAND !!! ... It is NOT anymore !! ... I will NOT attend any longer until you make it GRAND again !!!!!!

[@samueljaramillo4221]

No company around the world is grand anymore. People forget Opera is very expensive to produce. The money simply isn’t there anymore.

[@BellaFirenze]

The Metropolitan Opera is planning on slashing some of its 2023 performances and refocusing on contemporary works after a decrease in ticket sales and donations. In addition to tapping into its $306 million endowment after a dip in ticket sales and donations, as reported by the New York Times, the opera house is also planning a renewed focus on contemporary productions, which have become more popular in recent years. Popular among who?

[@theartstraveler]

People who buy tickets.

[@janetflier6192]

I really enjoyed “The Hours”!

[@BellaFirenze]

@@janetflier6192 Va bene.

[@SteveL2012]

They could try adjusting their ears for good singing, then audiences might start to return. Probably too late-too many years of Netrebko, Goerke, Rodvanovsky and the like. Fans have just given up.

[@DianaBee620]

I like to go out with a tune I can hum

[@chgem.2658]

Much too much modernized productions. Just interested in Tannhäuser, Bohème, Turandot and Rondine.

[@NYCOPERAFAN]

The standard repertoire casting is mostly quite mediocre, except for the Tannhauser.

[@davidbastardo4154]

Mostly weak American singers. Yawn.

[@H.M.K.]

Really not a fan of new production of Carmen

[@TheBeverly7]

True

[@kennethwayne6857]

It doesn't look that promising but let's wait and see it first. At least the singers will be good.

[@markbeck8384]

A rich season. I loved The Hours. I am excited by Forza, Florencia. Like the casting,

[@michaelagrain2776]

No Sonya? No Sondra?

[@Ulysses88047]

They are both singing in München.

[@santividal9387]

You guys are complaining about lots of contemporary operas and here I am in Madrid 😂

[@simonkawasaki4229]

SO MUCH looking forward to La Rondine with the STUNNING Angel Blue, and also La Forza, which is FINALLY coming back to the Met, even though the production looks ugly albeit thought-provoking. Also excited for Nabucco and Un Ballo. I see the Met is going for the "Underperformed-but-not-TOO-underperformed" Verdi route.

[@Dylonely_9274]

Are you planning to upload the full score of Un Ballo in Maschera in the future ? Thanks.

[@simonkawasaki4229]

@@Dylonely_9274 Good guess, I DEFINITELY 100% will upload it, after La Boheme, La Wally, Luisa Miller and I Due Foscari.

[@jaydoggy9043]

I think i twas a poor choice to not include any comedies. The Magic Flute is its sole choice this year and it's right around Christmas where I can't take a vacation in my job.

[@brynjarhoff-lr6hw]

Well,it seems that Metropolitan not always have the best singers….there is more to listen to in Europa..

[@frostyhamster3116]

This is just a meh season. The best singers would still prefer the met over the small theaters in Europe.

[@johnkulus7812]

Thank you for adding to the repertoire; not just sameold, same old that seems to keep the Larry Wong’s of the opera world ( all 231 of them) out of the line waiting forcheeeep seats.

[@terryhammond1253]

The Met is wisely trying to extricate itself from being a museum house by doing new and challenging work. Good luck to them.

[@stuartlee6622]

They think by doing black, the blacks will rush to the Met. Ain't gonna' happen, dears.

[@tommy_lee3]

Agreed! The biggest risk is not taking any risk at all

[@marghorayeb5928]

Quelle puissance Tannhäuser !!!

[@dianaaljadeff2983]

Strange season with many contemporay operas.Lets wait

[@joecivitano]

*YAWN....sad to see the continuing demise of a once legendary opera house. Somewhere Rudolf Bing is crying......

[@michaelbegley8388]

When is the MET board going to wake up and can Gelb and hire a competent GM? This season is really poor; what a waste to replace a perfectly good Carmen production with, what appears to be, a Euro-Trash monstrosity. Weak casting in most of the productions. SOME contemporary opera is fine; Dead Man Walking certainly deserves to be done (and MAY be revivable), and The Hours did sell-out business. Has it ever penetrated Gelb’s thick skull that the productions that continue to be revivable are reasonably traditional productions (such as Turandot, Boheme, Tannhauser).

[@jackhamm1745]

And Aida! But they are replacing that grand production with some downsized Eurotrash craptacular. +

[@jennetal.984]

Why Villazon as Papageno again? smh

[@barbarachmielewska]

Six new productions, not seven.

[@AlexanderJuliusLeventov]

You are right, thanks. Unfortunately, the Met Opera postponed Rolando Villazón’s ‘Sonnambula’, which would have been the seventh new production of the new season.

[@kennethwayne6857]

@@AlexanderJuliusLeventov For which I hear some of the Met chorus are relieved. Some consider it the most difficult opera for the chorus.

[@philcoppa]

first time I've noticed 'euro trash'. Good description.

[@olegbelyakov7317]

The magnificence of MET is boundless!

[@georgesclermont1911]

Magnificence such as Turandot, Bohême are past their BBD.

[@samueljaramillo4221]

@@georgesclermont1911 That’s your opinion,not a fact.

[@UghyArt]

Can’t wait ❤️🥰

[@robert111k]

A season without Oropesa, Rebeka and Hernandez? Meh.

[@gaddovarzi6980]

Capperi che programma... In Italia ci fai cinque cartelloni...

[@lorenzorossi6567]

Tra l'altro tutte produzioni costose. Però non vedo un filo logico che lega queste scelte

[@paulotosi6091]

Desapontadora essa temporada.

[@Ulysses88047]

YES !

[@jamesa0330]

Staged for cameras not the Met house. You can costume opera singers in contemporary clothes but unless the director helps rid them of stock 18th century gestures it looks incongruent. Finally, the singers being put in such intimate poses leaves them no option but to be constantly looking for conductor monitors. Its just bad theatre from a director who has no clue how to stage singers, but hey ho what would Peter Gelb know about directors.

[@DeirdreMcNamara]

Excellent and appunto!

[@y.s320]

I don't like this staging.

[@laprimmadonna2341]

Pues, no sé qué decir…títulos nuevos, óperas contemporáneas. Hay tantos títulos que han desaparecido del repertorio actual, como La favorita, la donna del lago, el Mefistófeles de Boito…en fin…podría seguir nombrando. Por otra parte, sigo sin saber por qué el Met se resiste a Saioa Hernández. Su Leonor de Vargas es sinceramente una interpretación muy notable. En fin, mis mejores deseos para los cantantes, productores, directores, músicos, que todos los títulos salgan muy bien y que el público disfrute esta nueva temporada. Gracias por compartir.❤❤❤❤❤

[@octaviohernandez18]

Me pregunto lo mismo acerca de Saioa, me parece que el Met está durmiendo en cuanto a esta soprano dramática--pierde la audiencia.

[@samueljaramillo4221]

She’s been invited but turned it down

[@lucabaldo8195]

Costumi e scene troppo moderni: perdete spettatori. Siate più aderenti alla partitura

[@DeirdreMcNamara]

Exactly!

[@larrywong4966]

What an insult to opera lovers. It is really dumbing down what an Opera experience could be. The productions are thin, lack soul and real opera tradition. Will not be wasting my time or money at the Met.

[@qsilverboy01]

No Die Frau ohne Schatten .....

[@sterlinglewis5700]

With the possible exception of Lise Davidsen, there is nobody around who can do justice to this work. I admit I am totally spoiled: I had the great good fortune to see Leonie Rysanek and Birgit Nilsson as 'Frau' and 'Dyer's Wife' respectively, in a 'fairy tale' production. Now, there's a video circulating where the 2nd act takes place in a laundromat. ...And then 'they' wonder why people stay away...

[@qsilverboy01]

@@sterlinglewis5700 just before the pandemic, there was Concertante performance of Die Frosch in Rotterdam, I was there and enjoyed it. Amsterdam was planning to do the production in the Opera house. But then pandemic came, all cancelled. Now I saw that several productions and concerts of Die Frau in Germany. I was hoping that Met will pick it up, but apparently not next year.

[@charlesciroula2454]

Sadly,I no longer attend opera. What once was a beautiful,and traditional experience has declined because opera houses have turned away from beauty and tradition.

[@WannabeBackbencher]

If anyone wants to know why opera is a suffering art form, look no further than this comment section. Stuffy conservatives with absolutely no vision for the future. Normal people want new stories. This is how the great opera houses will survive, by trying new things. We can’t just keep playing the same 15-20 shows for decades and expect people to stick around.

[@samueljaramillo4221]

Opera is suffering because of the economy. Opera is very expensive to produce. The money simply isn’t there anymore.

[@victoriadiesattheend.8478]

I do agree that new things must be tried; THAT is how opera became what it is, by people writing new pieces and the people seeing what was being made. Its madness to be like, okay, all the great opera has been written! Let's stop here and only repeat what's been made! So I am very interested in contemporary opera, as long as all the same love and effort and work goes into it, and musically it MUST meet the standard. I'm considering seeing The Hours this season, just too good to miss.

[@DeirdreMcNamara]

@@samueljaramillo4221 The budget appears to be directed mainly toward monstrous sets and overblown costumes... I love Opera for the music, the "heart," the passion... If I want overblown art I'll go to the Guggenheim...

[@DeirdreMcNamara]

@@samueljaramillo4221 Well, fond as I am of theatre "techies," and like to see them employed the set designs are out of control. A head line in the NY Times Arts section way back in the 80s commented on the dominance and domineering sets and included the memorable line: "exit, humming the sets..." It's just gotten worse.

[@DeirdreMcNamara]

Where was Peter Mattei's Don Giovanni? Nothing else would induce me to return to NY...except, of course, a $100 million Human Rights award...

[@barrymorentz5190]

The Met is signing its death knell. If it is wondering why attendance is down significantly all it needs do is re-examine the dreary season it is planning. It spends millions on contemporary works that have no staying power and quickly disappear, or it creates nonsensical productions like the idiotic Faust or the mercifully canned Las Vegas Rigoletto. I shudder to imagine on the basis of what it has shown here what the new Carmen and Forza will look like. Yes, give new works a chance but in a much smaller house. One saving grace will be the appearance of the fabulous Jonathan Tetelman.

[@jgesselberty]

Nail firmly hit on head. People who plunk down some major money to see an opera, want all the pomp and grandeur that go with it. Modern, shoestring productions that look like they got the sets from a back alley are not cutting it. The critics love them, but the opera goers do not. New works should recieve attention, but should prove their worth in smaller venues before being mounted at the Met. The string of new productions in this season does not bode well for the Met and the lacklustre programming is a turn-off. A single Wagner. Not one Strauss. No Russian works. But, plenty of woke.

[@octaviohernandez18]

Add La Sonnambula, Manon Lescaut, and the recent Lucia--cannot agree with you more. Opera is theater, as much entertainment as escapism.

[@barrymorentz5190]

Gelb should take a lesson from Boheme and its longevity.Although I have seen it enough times by now it nevertheless is emblematic of the magic we want from opera. I’ll be damned before I would spend $150 to suffer through Marnie or The Exterminating Ángel, or worse, the insane Brett Dean Hamlet or the lobotomizing Ughenaten.

[@jrock2720]

From a 1992 article in the NYT Magazine on Philip Glass titled A Persistent Voyager Lands at the Met: Sixteen years ago Philip Glass stood in the Metropolitan Opera House in New York and looked out on a full house for his first opera, "Einstein on the Beach." In the parlance of the time it was "a very downtown event," which played with a non-Met cast on two Sundays when the company did not perform but wanted to keep the building open. "Who are these people?" a Met administrator asked Glass, surveying the decidedly arty crowd. "I've never seen them before." Glass shot back, "Well, you'd better find out who they are, because if this place expects to be running in 25 years, that's your audience out there." My first visit to the Met was back in June to see a contemporary work, "Akhnaten". I brought my family and it was a transcendent performance. I have since seen several works (one live and the rest on demand) with plans on seeing more this upcoming season. As Philip Glass predicted, the Met will not survive unless it brings in new audiences. The Met had to tap their endowment to the tune of $30 million and despite your objections, contemporary works are outselling the classics; "Fire Shut Up in My Bones" and "The Hours" drew sellouts; “Don Carlo" sold 40% of the house. The way to sustain the Met going forward is to get people interested in opera and contemporary works will do that more effectively than a classic from a prior century.

[@davidbastardo4154]

@@jrock2720 Good luck to them. They will become even more provincial and irrelevant than the English.

[@daniloyrocioserranobarrene8695]

This video reaffirms my decision to stop attending staged opera as it has become a horrible spectacle. I used to travel to the NY once a year for a week of beautiful opera, but as I hate eurotrash and Gelb turned my beloved Metopera into "Met-trash", that's the end of it. Sad... sad...

[@markcombrinck-hertz3649]

hi mark

[@mariyaorishko5399]

Let’s do it contemporary opera as contemporary. Please, don’t turn traditional, classical to modern (decor, costume,so on) looks ridiculous and corny. Better find good sopranos singers, some times more screaming then singing, no “o” round sounds ( except Vagner s soprano). Many suggest characters , so call new visions, are puzzling! Must be Quality against “ surprise me”. It is not circus.

[@Ulysses88047]

Rather dissapointing.... Maybe Romeo et Juliette with Nadine Sierra and Benjamin Bernheim would be nice.....

[@ewmbr1164]

Meh.

[@davidbastardo4154]

Anodine, soulless and chavista garbage of a season. At least Tannhäuser has a nice cast.

[@samueljaramillo4221]

All is see here is complain, complain, complain. One hundred persons, one hundred different opinion. People want to see this or that. They like this singer, don’t like that one. People seem to forget the world is going thru global economic problems. Opera is very expensive to produce. Theaters don’t have the money they used to have. Government subsidies are being slashed. Patrons don’t have the money they used to donate. How many of you out there make a sizable donation to any theater? I’m afraid the money to produce lavish grand productions is not there anymore. And any of you complaining about theater company managers not know how to do their jobs. Or how to plan a season. You know less.

[@DeirdreMcNamara]

Actually many of us are on the same page here...

[@auntiezy4008]

Im sorry but this season is a big meh

[@samlichtenstein2754]

What opera shows were you hoping to be performed at the Met?

[@stuartlee6622]

I agree.

[@biancacastafiore8760]

it’s amazing how much money it costs to put on such a mediocre and lousy season. gelb only got his job due to his father and sills. what a joke. che disastro.

[@samueljaramillo4221]

Your the joke

[@DeirdreMcNamara]

Mr. Yellow - in more ways than one!

[@papagen00]

too woke for me, I'm going to skip next Met season.

[@stuartlee6622]

Me, too!!

[@Mooseman327]

The Met goes Woke and will go broke.

[@Marcel_Audubon]

Going woke gets rid of the Republicans in the audience, even if they're not sure what it means ... so, all in all, a good move

[@octaviohernandez18]

@@Marcel_Audubon But will the woke audience attend?

[@Marcel_Audubon]

@@octaviohernandez18 woke is a fiction invented by the GOP to scare their braindead cult

[@Mooseman327]

@@octaviohernandez18 No, they won’t and that’s why the Met will go broke. But, at this point, who cares?

[@jackhamm1745]

@@Marcel_Audubon 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣 Bravissimo!

[@yiqianwang3155]

Like problem with other art forms, not truly against a modern presentation to classics, but could they create something new than just use a new bottle for old wine? Could they brew new wine instead? There is a reason a classic exists in their classic way. It’s like the “politics right “ to put black people into those classic white role, it’s more like humiliation than an honor, since those producers are so lazy to dig the black culture and historic value to make them shine in their unique way! It’s against art value and humanity.

[@georgesclermont1911]

OMG, Zeffirelli, Shenk, Alagna, etc. Way past their BBD.

[@alexandradaniele]

Are you kidding? Boheme and Turandot are the last remaining Zefirelli productions and they are magnificent! If Gelb f**ks with those, I'm paging Tony Soprano!

[@alessela6804]

And Saioa Hernández??? Why is she not singing the next season?? 😡