The Metropolitan Opera could be facing the end of an era with the conclusion of its 2022-23 season. Throughout the season, the Met put on 22 productions – though this number reaches 23 if one counts Mozart’s “Magic Flute,” which was staged twice; once in German, and once as an English-language holiday adaptation. As the country’s largest performing arts organization, the Met has long been known for juggling multiple works at the same time, sometimes featuring four different operas in just 48 hours. However, there are concerns over whether the theatre’s 4,000-seat capacity can be filled for so many performances.
Despite robust sales for some new productions, particularly for contemporary works, the less widely promoted revivals are no longer expected to sell out – particularly those that are somewhat off the beaten path. As a result, the Met has already dipped into its reserves and will lower the number of performances by 10% next season, featuring only 18 staged operas, six of which were written within the past 30 years. Thus, the days of being America’s grand repertory company, showcasing more than 20 titles per year, could be coming to a close.
The Met recently bid farewell to its “Aida” from the 1980s, which typified the era that may be coming to an end. These stalwart productions are the core of the company’s repertory and can be mounted with relative ease year after year. However, as audience numbers continue to decline, it may be necessary for the Met to present fewer operas each season.
It’s a melancholic realization that my two favorite performances of the season might soon become extinct in the new Met era. They were revivals of Donizetti’s gentle romantic comedy “L’Elisir d’Amore” and Shostakovich’s ferocious satire-tragedy “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk,” which were by no means obscure but not nearly as well-known as “Carmen.” These two productions were excellent examples of the love, care, craft, and experience which goes into each performance. “L’Elisir d’Amore” featured Javier Camarena and Golda Schultz delivering an amazing performance that was given spirit by conductor Michele Gamba, who debuted at the company. Shostakovich was well-served by post-debut conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson, who brought mastery to the score, which was both savage and hauntingly beautiful.
Contemporary opera shows have done well this season, but some of these performances have been less anticipated. “Champion,” a boxing melodrama by Terence Blanchard, and Kevin Puts’s score for “The Hours,” based on the novel and film, were not as powerful as other new productions. However, it should be noted that “The Hours” served as a vehicle for a fantastic performance by mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato as a brooding but dryly witty Virginia Woolf, and that mezzo Samantha Hankey was outstanding, portraying a youthful Octavian in Strauss’s “Der Rosenkavalier.”
The coming season will be experimental in its new approach to programming. While curtailed, it is still ambitious, and offers recent works alongside some intriguing repertory pieces like Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino,” Puccini’s “La Rondine,” and Wagner’s “Tannhäuser.” Revivals of “Fire Shut Up in My Bones” and “The Hours” will test whether contemporary operas can maintain their audience appeal beyond their premieres. It will be interesting to see if the season’s trims will increase sales for remaining operas.
The musicians of the Metropolitan Opera criticised conductor Nathalie Stutzmann for expressing an opinion on a new production of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.” The Met’s music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin endorsed his orchestra’s actions as they criticized Stutzmann publicly. Regardless of this controversy, the new vision of the company focusing more on contemporary opera may help it thrive. However, something that is certain is that the coming years at the Met will be quite different.
The return of soprano Angela Gheorghiu, dropped from the Met’s program in 2014, scheduled to return for two performances of “Tosca” in April was cancelled due to Covid-19. It felt a lot like a sign of change: The old divas — at least the ones not named Renée — need not apply.
