The Metropolitan Opera, which in recent years has placed a strong emphasis on contemporary opera, has announced that it will stage three modern works during its 2025–26 season.
The season will open in September in New York with the premiere of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, an opera by Mason Bates based on the novel of the same name by Michael Chabon. The work was first performed last fall at Indiana University. It will be followed by the local premiere of Innocence (2021), the final opera by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, and The Last Dream of Frida and Diego (2022), the debut opera by Gabriela Lena Frank.
Other highlights of the season include a new production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, directed by Yuval Sharon in his first collaboration with the Met; Bellini’s I Puritani, scheduled for New Year’s Eve; and La Sonnambula, also by Bellini, directed by renowned tenor Rolando Villazón and starring celebrated soprano Nadine Sierra.
In addition, twelve celebrated productions will return to the stage, including Bizet’s Carmen, Richard Strauss’s Arabella, and Umberto Giordano’s Andrea Chénier.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Met’s music director, will conduct the new productions of Kavalier & Clay, The Last Dream of Frida and Diego, and Tristan und Isolde.
As the Met continues to explore solutions for its ongoing financial challenges, its leadership believes contemporary works tend to draw greater audience interest compared to traditional classics. However, the results have been mixed: average attendance this season has reached 70% of capacity, down from 73% during the same period last year. Still, projections suggest this could rise to 75% by the season’s end.
Peter Gelb, general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, stated, “It’s never possible to predict the success of a new work, but if we don’t support the creation of new operas, we are essentially saying goodbye to the art form.”