Nabucco

by Giuseppe Verdi

WED, JAN 10 • 6:30pm

REVIVAL

Ancient Babylon comes to life in a classic Met staging of biblical proportions. An account of the Babylonian captivity after the fall of Jerusalem at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar (Nabucco), it was Verdi’s third opera and at the age of 28, the one that made his career.

Baritone George Gagnidze makes his Met role debut as the imperious king Nabucco, alongside Ukrainian soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska reprising her thrilling turn as his vengeful daughter Abigaille. Daniele Callegari conducts Verdi’s early masterpiece, which features the ultimate showcase for the great Met Chorus, the moving “Va, pensiero.”

Synopsis: Jerusalem, 6th century B.C. The Israelites are praying for help against Nabucco (Nebuchadnezzar), king of Babylon, who has attacked them and is vandalizing the city. Zaccaria, their high priest, appears with Nabucco’s daughter, Fenena, whom the Hebrews hold hostage. He reassures his people that the Lord will not forsake them. As the Israelites leave, Ismaele, nephew of the King of Jerusalem, is left alone with Fenena. The two fell in love during Ismaele’s imprisonment in Babylon, and Fenena helped him escape and followed him to Jerusalem. Read more...

Carmen

by Georges Bizet

SAT, JAN 27 • 9:55am

WED, JAN 31 • 6:30pm

NEW PRODUCTION

Acclaimed English director Carrie Cracknell makes her Met debut, reinvigorating the classic story of deadly passion with a staging that moves the action to the present day, amid a band of human traffickers. Mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina leads a powerhouse quartet of stars in the touchstone role of the irresistible femme fatale, alongside tenor Piotr Beczała as Carmen’s lover Don José, soprano Angel Blue as the devoted Micaëla, and bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen as the swaggering Escamillo. Daniele Rustioni conducts Bizet’s heart-pounding score.

Dear England

A new play by James Graham

THU, FEB 1 • 7pm

SAT, FEB 3 • 1pm

THU, FEB 8, 7pm

THU, FEB 10, 1pm (open caption)

NEW PRODUCTION

Joseph Fiennes (The Handmaid’s Tale) plays Gareth Southgate in James Graham’s (Sherwood) gripping examination of nation and game. The country that gave the world football has since delivered a painful pattern of loss. Why can’t England’s men win at their own game? With the worst track record for penalties in the world, Gareth Southgate knows he needs to open his mind and face up to the years of hurt, to take team and country back to the promised land.

Yerma

by Simon Stone after Federico Garcia Lorca

Directed by Simon Stone

THU, JAN 11 • 7pm

SAT, JAN 13 • 1pm

★★★★★

‘Billie Piper makes a shattering Yerma in Simon Stone’s inspired reworking’

(Observer)

ENCORE

A woman is driven to the unthinkable by her desperate desire to have a child in this radical production of Lorca’s achingly powerful masterpiece. In contemporary London, a woman in her thirties is desperate to conceive, building with elemental force to a staggering and shocking climax.

In Search of Chopin

SUN, JAN 14 • 1pm

Chopin’s grave in Paris remains a place of pilgrimage and his music continues to sell out concert halls worldwide – but who exactly was this man who was terrified of public performance, who fled his Polish homeland for Paris never to return, took up with the most notorious transvestite in France, rarely gave public performances and, despite a life of ill-health, wrote some of the deepest and most powerful music ever written?

For four years, award-winning Phil Grabsky travelled the globe in his quest to lay bare the life and music of Chopin. Some of the world’s best musicians provide the music, including Leif Ove Andsnes, Daniel Barenboim, Ronald Brautigam and the Orchestra of the 18th Century.

Giselle

SUN, JAN 21 • 1pm

WED, JAN 24 • 7pm

The ultimate romantic ballet, performed by former Bolshoi Ballet principals Olga Smirnova and Jacopo Tissi, who fled Russia and joined Dutch National Ballet, where this ballet is filmed.

The young peasant girl Giselle falls in love with Albrecht, a nobleman already betrothed who hides his true identity from her. When she learns the truth, she becomes mad and dies. Against her own will, Giselle joins the Wilis, vengeful spirits of jilted brides who condemn Albrecht to dance until he dies of exhaustion…

Giselle touches upon great and universal romantic themes. Rachel Beaujean and Ricardo Bustamante’s acclaimed production pay tribute to one of the oldest and greatest works of classical dance.