The Metropolitan Opera has announced changes to its upcoming 2025-26 season, which will feature double casting for certain Verdi and Puccini revivals, as well as adjustments to its Saturday performance schedule for contemporary works. This restructuring comes after the organization sought guidance from a consultant aimed at enhancing its financial stability.
This upcoming season is set to mirror the previous two, maintaining 18 productions— a significant reduction from the 28 performances staged in 2007-08. It will also showcase six new productions, continuing the trend of three World premieres for the third consecutive year. Revivals will make up a substantial 79% of the 196 scheduled performances, an increase from the 71% seen in the current season. Notable highlights include 21 performances of Verdi’s “La Traviata” and a total of 52 for Puccini’s classics, with 20 for “La Bohème,” 17 for “Turandot,” and 15 for “Madama Butterfly.”
“Madama Butterfly” features Sonya Yoncheva on March 18 and will be performed again the following day with Elena Stikhina. Similarly, “La Traviata” will see Rosa Feola lead the performance on May 8, with Ermonela Jaho taking over the next day.
Peter Gelb, the Met’s general manager, mentioned that following recommendations from the Boston Consulting Group, the organization plans to schedule more performances of regularly featured operas. This strategy allows for more efficient changes in scenery and requires less frequent setup shifts in the theater. The consultant’s advice also includes reducing the number of split runs for productions, where an opera is shown in different segments of the season. In an effort to optimize expenses, the Met has implemented weekly cost-tracking meetings among its department heads and refrained from withdrawing funds from its endowment this season, following a $40 million withdrawal in 2023-24.
Despite reported attendance being 70% for the first half of the season, a slight decline from the previous year’s 73%, the company anticipates an overall increase in season attendance to 75%, improving from 72% last season. Jeanine Tesori’s “Grounded” debuted the season but sold only 50%, the lowest among ten productions. In contrast, an English-language revival of Julie Taymor’s “The Magic Flute” during the holiday period achieved a leading 82% attendance, followed by Michael Mayer’s production of Verdi’s “Aida” at 79%.
Mason Bates’ “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay” is set to launch the next season on September 21, with seven performances lined up, the maximum allowed for new productions. Gelb noted there have been character revisions aimed at enhancing prominence since its student cast premiere at Indiana University last November. However, the opera will not be part of the Met’s eight high-definition video simulcasts planned for theaters worldwide. The broadcast audience currently stands at 55% of pre-pandemic levels, with new works receiving local attention in New York but lacking visibility in Europe, where half of the HD viewership typically comes from. According to Gelb, focusing on classic repertoire while limiting new productions will support the profitability of their live HD broadcasts.
Among other new productions coming to the Met, Rolando Villazón’s staging of Bellini’s “La Sonnambula” will open on October 6, postponed from the previous season due to budget constraints. Carlos Eduardo’s “I Puritani” will grace the stage on New Year’s Eve, while Yuval Sharon’s production of Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde,” featuring Lise Davidsen, will take place on March 9. Also included is Kaija Saariaho’s final opera, “Innocence,” debuting on April 6, originally presented in Aix-en-Provence, France, in July 2021, and Gabriela Lena Frank’s “El ultimó sueño de Frida y Diego,” a collaboration with Pulitzer Prize-winning Nilo Cruz, scheduled for May 14.
Looking ahead, plans are also in motion for Carlos Simon’s opera “In the Rush” for the 2026-27 season and Huang Ruo’s “The Wedding Banquet” to open the 2027-28 season. Ivo Van Hove’s rendition of Weill’s “Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny” alongside Claus Guth’s “Semele” will debut in the 2027-28 season as well.
Future seasons will also see Handel works such as “Alcina” directed by Richard Jones and “Ariodante” by Robert Carsen, alongside Simon McBurney’s rendering of Mussorgsky’s “Khovanshchina.” However, plans for Kevin Newbury’s production of Donizetti’s “La Favorite” have been scrapped, and the previously planned staging of Prokofiev’s “The Fiery Angel” by Barrie Kosky remains on hold since the 2020-21 season cancellation.
