NEW YORK — Financial pressures have forced New York’s Metropolitan Opera to announce its most limited season in more than six decades, with only 17 productions planned for 2026-27.
The opera company revealed Thursday that this upcoming season will feature the smallest number of productions since the Met relocated to Lincoln Center in 1966. The schedule includes just five brand-new stagings, while three crowd-favorite operas will dominate the calendar with 71 out of 187 total performances: Puccini’s “Tosca” and “La Bohème,” plus Verdi’s “Aida.”
“It makes more sense for us, and this is an experiment — to present these works in extended runs,” explained Met general manager Peter Gelb. “And by double-casting them, it also is more economic in terms of how many different shows are playing in one week.”
The company is seeing some positive signs at the box office, with ticket sales reaching 72% this season compared to 70% during the first half of 2024-25.
“Basically, it’s back to pre-pandemic levels,” Gelb noted. “We’re not grossing as much money because the average price per ticket is slightly less than it was, because we have a younger audience and more discounted tickets.”
The current season’s opener, Mason Bates’ “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay,” proved particularly successful with 84% ticket sales for its world premiere, leading the Met to add four extra performances this month.
“One of my goals at the Met is to stimulate new audiences with new works,” Gelb said. “This one was one of the most successful we’ve presented so far.”
Other strong performers this season included an English-language holiday version of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” at 83% capacity, Bellini’s “I Puritani” at 82%, and Puccini’s “Turandot” at 77%. Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” reached 74%, “The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess” hit 73%, while Donizetti’s “La Fille du Régiment,” Bizet’s “Carmen,” Bellini’s “La Sonnambula” and “Bohème” each sold 68% of available seats.
Less successful were Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” and Strauss’ “Arabella,” both at 64%, and Giordano’s “Andrea Chenier” at 57%.
The upcoming season launches September 22 with a fresh staging of Verdi’s “Macbeth” featuring soprano Lise Davidsen under the direction of Louisa Proske.
Composer Missy Mazzoli’s “Lincoln in the Bardo,” adapted from George Saunders’ acclaimed novel, will have its world premiere October 19. The production stars Christine Goerke, Stephanie Blythe, Anthony Roth Costanzo and Peter Mattei, with staging by Lileana Blain-Cruz.
Three productions new to the Met’s repertoire are also planned: Janáček’s “Jenůfa” starring Asmik Grigorian in Claus Guth’s staging that first appeared at London’s Royal Opera in 2021 (November 16); Puccini’s “La Fanciulla del West” with Sondra Radvanovsky and SeokJong Baek in Richard Jones’ production that debuted at English National Opera in 2014 (December 31); and the company premiere of Kevin Puts’ “Silent Night” featuring Elza van den Heever and Rolando Villazon in James Robinson’s staging, recently seen at Houston Grand Opera (March 8, 2027).
A star-studded gala featuring more than two dozen performers is set for May 25, 2027, celebrating the company’s 60th anniversary at Lincoln Center.
“We’re in a kind of golden age of opera singing,” Gelb observed. “The only difference between today and 30 or 40 years ago is that 30 or 40 years ago opera was much more in the cultural mainstream.”
“Lincoln” won’t be among the eight productions broadcast to movie theaters, as post-pandemic audiences for these simulcasts have declined.
“A title that is unknown, even with whatever maximum efforts of marketing and publicity that are done, will underperform to a degree where it is not really financially viable for the movie theaters or for us,” Gelb explained.
Budget constraints forced the postponement of Simon McBurney’s staging of Mussorgsky’s “Khovanshchina,” part of cost-cutting measures that included 22 layoffs and temporary salary reductions of 4-15%.
“Unfortunately, I have to wear two hats,” Gelb said. “I have to wear my artistic hat, and I have to wear my financial hat.”
The upcoming season marks Gelb’s 20th year as general manager, and he plans to step down when his current contract ends in 2030.
“That certainly is our current plan,” Gelb confirmed.
