Verdi’s longest and most ambitious opera offers a profound look at the intersection of the personal and the political spheres. The opera features a number of complex one-on-one confrontations, and the chorus, when it appears, is imposing, most notably in the central auto-da-fé. The grandeur of the score telescopes in Acts IV and V to the individuals, with magnificent and melodically rich solo scenes.

David McVicar’s monumental production—created for the Met premiere of the original French version of Verdi’s gripping drama in the 2021–22 season—returns, now sung in Italian and starring an unbeatable cast of dramatic voices. Russell Thomas, one of today’s fastest-rising tenors, takes on the title role, a Spanish nobleman caught between private passion and public duty, sharing the stage with sopranos Eleonora Buratto and Angela Meade as Elisabeth de Valois, mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili as Princess Eboli, baritone Peter Mattei as Rodrigo, bass-baritone John Relyea as the Grand Inquisitor, and bass Günther Groissböck as King Philip II. Carlo Rizzi conducts one of the repertory’s most epic works.

For more information about this performance, please visit the event website.