Missy Mazzoli is set to make Metropolitan Opera history this autumn with Lincoln in the Bardo, a major new opera adaptation of George Saunders’ Booker Prize-winning novel.
Directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz, Lincoln in the Bardo will open at the Metropolitan Opera on October 19, with eight additional performances through November 14.
Combining a ghost story set in Abraham Lincoln’s Washington in 1862 with historical drama and a deeply human exploration of grief, the world-premiere production brings together an acclaimed creative team and an all-star cast for one of the most distinctive new productions of the season.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Met’s Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director, conducts all performances except for October 31 and November 14, which Steven Osgood leads.
The production stars baritone Peter Mattei as Lincoln, soprano Christine Goerke as the Reverend, countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo as Miss Elise Traynor, and bass-baritone Ryan McKinny as Vollman.
Mazzoli becomes the first woman to have a world premiere at the Metropolitan Opera with Lincoln in the Bardo, with a libretto by Royce Vavrek.
The opera takes place in the bardo, a ghostly realm set in a cemetery just outside of Washington, D.C. The only living character is President Abraham Lincoln who, in the opera, comes to visit his recently deceased son, Willie.
Willie’s arrival is the catalyst for the action that results in stunning realisations and magical transformations of the ghosts in the cemetery. Saunders’s novel and Vavrek’s libretto grapple with the grief of a father dealing with the incomprehensible sadness of losing a child, alongside the humour and levity of ghosts who struggle to comprehend their current state.
The production incorporates puppetry, pyrotechnics, and a live horse to bring the bardo to life on the Met stage.
With this world premiere, Mazzoli joins a distinguished group of female composers whose works have had Met premieres in recent seasons, including Gabriela Lena Frank (El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego), Jeanine Tesori (Grounded), and Kaja Saariaho (L’Amour de Loin, Innocence).
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