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sai-national.org • Fall 2025 55 Metropolitan Opera Season Opens with Company Premiere of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay The Metropolitan Opera opens its 140th season with the company premiere of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, the operatic adaptation of Michael Chabon's Pulitzer Prize–winning novel. The Met-commissioned opera— composed by Grammy Award–winning composer Mason Bates, to a libretto by Gene Scheer—premieres on Sunday, September 21, at 6:30PM. "This story resonates now more than ever: two young artists using their imaginative powers to challenge authority and change the world," said Bates. "As a composer who fell in love with opera while attending shows at The Met in college, I am so honored to bring this iconic American tale to life in the very same building. Gene Scheer, Bart Sher, and the extraordinary team have been a joy to work with." Under the baton of the Met's Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the world of 1940s New York comes vividly to life as two Jewish cousins—a refugee from Nazi-occupied Prague and a closeted gay Brooklynite—forge a bond through the creation of the Escapist, a comic book superhero who fights fascism and frees the oppressed. "Mason Bates's Kavalier & Clay is the perfect way to open our season—it's bold, contemporary, and rooted in themes of hope, reinvention, and the fight for justice," says Maestro Nézet-Séguin. "This opera invites us to celebrate the power of art, just as the characters do through the creation of their comics. It reminds us that in even the darkest times, imagination can be a lifeline." "With autocracy on the rise, Kavalier & Clay couldn't be more timely," said Peter Gelb, the company's Maria Manetti Shrem General Manager. "Mason's epic of an opera, although set during World War II, should be an inspiration to those who wish to see present- day fascism defeated." Baritone Andrzej Filończyk makes his Met debut as Joe Kavalier, the gifted artist who flees war-torn Europe, opposite tenor Miles Mykkanen as his cousin and writing partner, Sam Clay. The cast also includes soprano Lauren Snouffer—in her Met debut— as Sarah Kavalier, mezzo-soprano Sun-Ly Pierce as Rosa Saks, baritone Edward Nelson as Tracy Bacon, and bass-baritones Patrick Carfizzi and Craig Colclough as Sheldon Anapol and Gerhard, respectively. Blending sweeping orchestration, jazz-inflected rhythms, and electronic music, Kavalier & Clay explores themes of identity, survival, and liberation through three distinct musical worlds. The production is led by Tony Award–winning director Bartlett Sher, with colossal set pieces and cinematic projections designed by a returning team from 59 Studio. The opera marks the ninth Met production for Sher, and the creative team also features debuts by costume designer Jennifer Moeller, sound designer Rick Jacobsohn, and Emmy Award–winning choreographer Mandy Moore. Paul Cremo, who also directs the Met's Opera Commissioning Program, supports the production as dramaturg. Following the Opening Night Gala performance on September 21, there are six additional performances through October 11. The 2025–26 season also includes two additional Met premieres—Kaija Saariaho's Innocence (Apr. 6–29) and Gabriela Lena Frank's El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego (May 14–Jun. 5)—as well as new productions of Bellini's La Sonnambula (Oct. 6–Nov.1) and I Puritani (Dec. 31–Jan. 18) and Wagner's Tristan und Isolde (Mar. 9–Apr. 2) and revivals of works by Bizet, Donizetti, the Gershwins, Giordano, Puccini, Mozart, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, and Verdi. —The Metropolitan Opera press release (August 6, 2025) A set model by 59 Studio for Mason Bates's A set model by 59 Studio for Mason Bates's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay Natial Cvention The MET

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