Here’s my take on what’s coming up in the Met “Live in HD” cinema series in the 2026/27 series.  There are again eight operas in the series.  One is a work new to the Met, two are new productions and five are repertory shows.  There’s also a special that goes out live on September 19th; Twenty Years of the Met in Cinemas: An Anniversary Celebration, hosted by soprano Renée Fleming.  Expect a tightly scripted orgy of self congratulation!

And so to the operas:

October 3rd – Mozart – Così fan tutte – Phelim McDermott’s co-pro for the Met and ENO.  Nothing very exciting here though Gerry Finley as Don Alfonso is definitely a plus.

October 17th – Verdi – Macbeth – This is a new production by Louisa Proske.  It has Quinn Kelsey as Macbeth and Lise Davidsen as his missus which is a pretty strong combo.  Yannick conducts.  Definitely promising.

December 5th – Saint Saëns – Samson et Delila – It’s a good cast.  I’d be happy to see Clay Hilley as Samson and Aigul Akhmetshina as Delila.  I’m not familiar with ether the director or the conductor.

January 23rd – Puccini – La Fanciulla del West – This is a new production by Richard Jones who can be pretty good.  It’s a role debut for Sondra Radvanovsky as Minnie and it features Chris Maltman as the “good guy”.  Keri-Lynn Wilson conducts.  Not a bad bet.

March 20th – Puts – Silent Night – Kevin Puts’ WW1 drama has been getting around.  I’ve not seen it on stage but I was not much taken by the music on CD.  Maybe it comes over better with visuals?  The cast is stellar with Elza van der Heever, Rolando Villazon and Ben Bliss.

April 3rd – Massenet – Manon – It’s a Laurent Pelly production which is a plus.  And it has Nadine Sierra and Matthew Polenzani who are both excellent.  Another pretty good bet.

April 24th – Verdi – Otello – It”s a Bartlett Sher production which puts me off.  Brian Jagde in the title role is a plus though.

June 5th – Wagner – Parsifal – The excellent François Girard production which eventually didn’t get done in Toronto!  This time round at the Met Piotr Beczala sings the title role.  The rest of the cast is pretty good too.  The original cast recording including Kaufmann and Pape is still available on Blu-ray.

The new Macbeth and Fanciulla are the highlights for me.  I’d be curious about Silent Night and there are some house/role debuts that are attractive but, overall, the whole concept is starting to feel a bit tired.

Not appearing in this line up is Mizzy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s Lincoln in the Bardo which is probably the Met production I would most like to have seen!