The Met Opera Auditorium (Photo: Jonathan Tichler / Met Opera)
The Metropolitan Opera has announced its 2025-2026 season.
Over the course of its nine-month season, United States’s largest opera company presents 18 operas, including six new productions (which includes three new-to-the-Met titles). The season also marks the first year with principal guest conductor Daniele Rustioni.
The season begins on September 21 with the Met premiere of a Mason Bates opera: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. The work — which represents Bates’s Met debut — is an adaptation of the widely acclaimed novel of the same name by Michael Chabon. The libretto is by Gene Scheer, whose work with composer Jake Heggie was featured in the 2024-25 season in Moby-Dick. The season opener is conducted by music director Yannick Nézet-Seguin.
September continues with two other titles: Puccini’s Turandot and Mozart’s Don Giovanni. For the latter opera, Nézet-Seguin shares conducting duties with Rustioni.
In October, the Met brings Bellini’s La Sonnambula (a new production), Donizetti’s La Fille Du Régiment, Puccini’s La Bohème, and Bizet’s Carmen.
In November, Strauss’s Arabella and Giordano’s Andrea Chénier are the titles launched.
A scene from the Met Opera’s production of Porgy and Bess (Photo: Ken Howard / Met Opera)
December sees the performances of Porgy & Bess, Bellini’s I Puritani (a new production), and the Met’s English-language holiday Magic Flute.
2026 beings with Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde (a new production), and Verdi’s La Traviata.
In April, the Met stages a company premiere of the final opera by the late Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho: Innocence. The composer described the psychologically taut opera as “a story about recovery and healing,” following a wide-reaching tragedy. Innocence is conducted by a close friend and collaborator of Saariaho’s, Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki.
Later that month, the Met reprises its production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin.
The final title of the year comes in May: Gabriela Lena Frank’s El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego (The Last Dream of Frida and Diego). The Spanish-language work is the composer’s first opera. Telling the story of “painterly power couple Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera,” the title features a libretto by Nilo Cruz.
The season ends with a performance of Turandot.
Lauren Snouffer (Photo: Dario Acosta)
The Met’s lineup of artists includes Piotr Beczała, Angel Blue, Lawrence Brownlee, Lise Davidsen, Joyce DiDonato, Ryan Speedo Green, Isabel Leonard, Erin Morley, Lisette Oropesa, Rachel Willis-Sørensen, and Sonya Yoncheva. Among those making their Met debuts are Louise Alder, Cecilia Rangwanasha, and as Kavalier in Kavalier & Clay, Lauren Snouffer.
Music director Yannick Nézet-Seguin will conduct four titles, and new principal guest conductor Daniele Rustioni will lead three titles. The season will also feature podium returns from Marco Armiliato, Riccardo Frizza, Derrick Inouye, Susanna Mälkki, Carlo Rizzi, and Keri-Lynn Wilson. Meanwhile, conductors Fabien Gabel, Kwamé Ryan, Michele Spotti, Erina Yashima, and Timur Zangiev will be making their podium debuts.
For ticketing and information, visit metopera.org. Hear performances from the Met Opera every Saturday at noon on WFMT, between December and June.
