We Speak Arts
Missy Mazzoli Makes Met History with World Premiere of ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’
Missy Mazzoli has made Metropolitan Opera history: her opera Lincoln in the Bardo opened at the Met on October 19, 2026, making Mazzoli the first woman composer to have a world premiere on the company’s stage. The production runs through November 14.
Adapted from George Saunders’ Booker Prize-winning novel, with a libretto by Royce Vavrek, the opera is set in a ghostly cemetery just outside Washington, D.C., in 1862. The only living character is President Abraham Lincoln, who comes by night to visit the tomb of his recently deceased 11-year-old son, Willie — while a restless chorus of 65 trained opera singers, playing the spirits of the dead, looks on. Mazzoli opens the work with the ghosts playing kazoos, “a sound that signals to the listener that we are not quite in everyday reality.”
The production is directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz and conducted by the Met’s Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Steven Osgood conducts the October 31 and November 14 performances). Baritone Peter Mattei stars as Lincoln, joined by soprano Christine Goerke as the Reverend, countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo as Miss Elise Traynor and bass-baritone Ryan McKinny as Vollman.
Commissioned by the Met in 2018, Lincoln in the Bardo combines a ghost story with historical drama and a deeply human exploration of grief — and marks one of the most distinctive new productions of the season.
WQXR and Carnegie Hall have announced the lineup for the 2026–27 season of Carnegie Hall Live, the broadcast series that brings performances from the legendary New York venue to audiences nationwide and around the world. Now in its 16th season, the series airs live on WQXR-FM and streams at WQXR.org and CarnegieHall.org, with broadcasts also distributed to public radio stations across the country.
The season opened on October 9 with the Berliner Philharmoniker, conducted by Kirill Petrenko, joined by pianist Víkingur Ólafsson in a program of Brahms and Strauss — part of the orchestra’s four-concert Carnegie Hall residency that launched the Hall’s 2026–27 season.
Among the season’s highlights, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s performs an all-Berlioz program on November 5, 2026, led by Louis Langrée and starring tenor Benjamin Bernheim in a rare New York appearance, pairing Les nuits d’été with the Symphonie fantastique. On January 19, 2027, Franz Welser-Möst conducts The Cleveland Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus in Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, with soloists Golda Schultz, Taylor Raven, Julian Prégardien, and Anthony Robin Schneider.
The series also carries performances by the Vienna Philharmonic and The Philadelphia Orchestra as part of Carnegie Hall’s season-long Mahler symphony cycle led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, alongside chamber music programs spotlighting Beethoven and Brahms.
Carnegie Hall Live is hosted by WNYC and WQXR’s John Schaefer, with guest hosts Elliott Forrest and Paul Cavalconte. The series is produced by WQXR in partnership with Carnegie Hall and American Public Media. For the full broadcast schedule, visit carnegiehall.org.
-
We Speak Dining & Drinks2 days agoOff The Rails Opens in Boston, Bringing Nashville-Inspired Dining, Live Music and High-Energy Entertainment Downtown
-
We Speak Music1 week agoFox De La Rose Refuses To Be Defined On ‘Nothing Is Written In Stone’
-
We Speak Music1 week agoDesire Machines Pair Literary Inspiration With Psychedelic Art-Rock On New Single
-
We Speak Music1 week agoDidn’t get tickets to Oasis? Buying for the dad who still talks about that gig in 1996