Parterre box

Anna El-Khashem in Così fan tutte at the Verbier Festival, July 2026 / Photo: Anne du Chastel Three major U.S companies are betting heavily this fall that the Mozart-da Ponte trio of operas will attract audiences. Grand Tier Grab Bag previews the Met’s Così fan Tutte, Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Don Giovanni and San Francisco Opera’s Le nozze di Figaro by introducing (or in one case, reintroducing) their leading sopranos: Federica Lombardi, Mané Galoyan, Anna El-Khashem, and Slávka Zámečníková.

I attended their first visit two years ago for Giulio Cesare, which I was surprised to find became one of the highlights of an already bright opera season. This year, Harry Bicket returns with Christophe Dumaux in the title role and a cast that is otherwise largely new to me. While the tour will stop in larger markets such as Berkeley and New York City, I’ll be catching up with them back in my hometown of Omaha, Nebraska.

Carmen 2026 (Regie/Choreografie, Gabriela Carrizo (Peeping Tom)): Asmik Grigorian (Carmen), Jonathan Tetelman (Don José) © SF/Virginia Rota An Argentine choreographer with no experience directing opera makes her debut with Carmen, stripping away much of the picturesque Spanish atmosphere and inviting dancers from her own company onstage.

Peter Mattei in Don Giovanni at the Metropolitan Opera / Photo: Karen Almond The Met has a first-rate cast on offer including, to play a president often in Americans’ thoughts nowadays, the luminous Peter Mattei. He’s such an artist he could probably even make us care about our 47th President if he portrayed him in an opera. But please don’t anyone set that to music now. Not even as farce.

Ben Miller is a writer, researcher, and opera queen based in Berlin. His essays, criticism, journalism, and fiction have been published in The New York Times, VAN Magazine, Jacobin, Slate, Tin House, SAND Journal, and more. His favorite opera is Jenufa, and his personal diva is Karita Mattila, who was the Eva in his first live opera: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, at the MET, in 2001. www.benwritesthings.com.

Maestro Keri-Lynn Wilson leads soprano Ailyn Pérez, mezzo-soprano Natalie Lewis, tenor René Barbera, bass Soloman Howard, and the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra in Verdi’s Requiem at David Geffen Hall on August 26, 2026, in New York City. Photo: Richard Termine / Met Opera Critics must always fight their prejudices in the pursuit of accuracy and truth. You can’t let personal attitudes about artists or public events cloud or color your judgment. But — it’s hard and many critics don’t even try.

When you think of an “opera,” you immediately picture a glamorous night at the world’s biggest opera houses, watching the world’s biggest stars belt their hearts out. Given how much tickets cost these days, this is a very valid expectation, and most opera houses bank on it: opera as a form of escapism.

I rarely see live opera locally. Before COVID, I attended Palm Beach Opera semi-regularly — often (fortunately) on the free open dress for students (and their teachers). Unfortunately, they are VERY late to announce casting (not until January, just before the first opera), so who knows whether anything will interest me. The hour+ drive to Florida Grand Opera (Fort Lauderdale and Miami) was less daunting when I was younger, and again their casting is still mostly unknown.

Samantha Hankey as The Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos at the Wiener Staatsoper, February 2026 / Photo: Michael Poehn After appearing this summer as Strauss’s Composer at Glyndebourne (and in a broadcast from two weeks ago) American mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey pivots on a heel to Dorabella in the Met’s production of Così fan tutte which opens on 23 September. For now, standard mezzo fare is Hankey’s bread and butter.

Puccini’s melancholic story of nostalgia and flawed heroes has always been a favorite of mine. While it would have been nice to see Sondra Radvanovsky in the title role, Vida Miknevičiūtė’s house debut combined with a powerful Christopher Maltman should make for a great experience. Montagu James is a PhD student at Brown University studying modern European political and cultural history. He also enjoys composing and conducting.