Great Performances at the Met Debuts New Productions Starring Nadine Sierra, Joyce DiDonato, Angel Blue and more on PBS
Great Performances at the Met raises the curtain on new programs premiering through October 2024 on PBS (check local listings). The lineup includes names familiar to the Met including Tony Award-winning Bartlett Sher who directs Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Angel Blue who stars in Puccini’s La Rondine, Ailyn Pérez who stars in Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas, along with newcomers such as English director Carrie Cracknell who directs Bizet’s Carmen, and Asmik Grigorian who stars in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. The season includes two primetime operas: Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking starring Joyce DiDonato, based on the famous memoir by Sister Helen Prejean and her fight for the soul of a criminal, premiering Friday, March 15 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings); and the new, modern day production of Carmen starring Aigul Akhmetshina premiering Friday, June 14 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings).
Great Performances at the Met Season 18 Opera Schedule:
X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X – Premieres beginning Sunday, February 4 at 2 p.m. on PBS (check local listings)
Experience Anthony Davis’s groundbreaking opera directed by Tony nominee Robert O’Hara (Broadway’s “Slave Play,” Great Performances: Richard III). The new staging portrays Malcolm as an Everyman whose story transcends time and space. With a libretto by Thulani Davis and a story by Christopher Davis, baritone Will Liverman sings Malcolm X. Kazem Abdullah conducts and Academy Award nominee Angela Bassett hosts.
Dead Man Walking – Premieres Friday, March 15 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings)
Experience Ivo van Hove’s production of composer Jake Heggie’s opera in its Met premiere. Based on Sister Helen Prejean’s memoir about her fight for the soul of a condemned murderer, with a libretto by Terrence McNally, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato stars as Sister Helen with Ryan McKinny as the death-row inmate Joseph De Rocher. Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes the podium for this landmark premiere. Grammy Award winner Rhiannon Giddens hosts.
Florencia en el Amazonas – Premieres beginning Sunday, April 7 at 2 p.m. on PBS (check local listings)
Inspired by the magical realism of Gabriel García Márquez, Mexican composer Daniel Catán’s 1996 opera tells the story of an opera diva who returns to her native South America to perform at the legendary opera house of Manaus—and to search for her lost lover, who has vanished into the jungle. Starring soprano Ailyn Pérez, Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Mary Zimmerman’s new production and Rolando Villazón hosts.
Nabucco – Premieres beginning Sunday, May 5 at 2 p.m. on PBS (check local listings)
Ancient Babylon comes to life in this production of Verdi’s early masterpiece. Baritone George Gagnidze makes his Met role debut as the imperious king Nabucco, alongside soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska reprising her turn as his vengeful daughter, Abigaille. Daniele Callegari conducts and Angel Blue hosts.
Carmen – Premieres Friday, June 14 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings)
Acclaimed English director Carrie Cracknell makes her Met debut with this classic story reset in the modern day. Told through today’s issues like gender violence, abusive labor structures, and the desire to break through societal boundaries, mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina leads the cast in the title role alongside tenor Piotr Beczała as Carmen’s troubled lover, Don José. Daniele Rustioni conducts Bizet’s score and Matthew Polenzani hosts.
La Forza del Destino – Premieres beginning Sunday, July 7 at 2 p.m. on PBS (check local listings)
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Verdi’s grand tale of love, deadly vendetta, and family strife with soprano Lise Davidsen starring as Leonora, one of the repertory’s most tormented heroines. Director Mariusz Treliński delivers the Met’s first new “Forza” in nearly 30 years, setting the scene in a contemporary world and making extensive use of the Met’s turntable to represent the advance of destiny that drives the opera’s chain of calamitous events. Nadine Sierra hosts.
Roméo et Juliette – Premieres beginning Sunday, August 4 at 2 p.m. on PBS (check local listings)
Soprano Nadine Sierra and tenor Benjamin Bernheim portray Shakespeare’s famed star-crossed lovers in Gounod’s adaptation with Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin on the podium. Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher directs and Ryan Speedo Green hosts.
La Rondine – Premieres beginning Sunday, September 8 at 2 p.m. on PBS (check local listings)
Puccini’s love story stars soprano Angel Blue as the French courtesan Magda, opposite tenor Jonathan Tetelman in his Met Opera debut as Ruggero, an idealistic young man who offers her an alternative to her life of excess. Maestro Speranza Scappucci conducts Nicolas Joël’s art deco–inspired staging, which transports audiences from the heart of Parisian nightlife to the French Riviera. Julia Bullock hosts.
Madama Butterfly – Premieres beginning Sunday, October 6 at 2 p.m. on PBS (check local listings)
Soprano Asmik Grigorian stars as Cio-Cio-San in her Met Opera debut as the loyal geisha at the heart of Puccini’s devastating tragedy. Tenor Jonathan Tetelman stars the callous American naval officer Pinkerton, whose betrayal destroys her. Acclaimed maestro Xian Zhang makes her Met debut conducting Anthony Minghella’s vivid production, and Anthony Roth Costanzo hosts.
Great Performances at the Met is produced by the Metropolitan Opera in association with PBS and The WNET Group, bringing the best of the Metropolitan Opera into the homes of opera fans across the country. For the Met: Mia Bongiovanni is Supervising Producer and Louisa Briccetti and Victoria Warivonchik are Producers. Peter Gelb is Executive Producer. For Great Performances: Bill O’Donnell is Series Producer; David Horn is Executive Producer.
For Great Performances, funding is provided by The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, The Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, Ellen and James S. Marcus, and Jody and John Arnhold.