Review Roundup: I PURITANI at the Metropolitan Opera

Performances are now underway for The Metropolitan Opera's new staging of Vincenzo Bellini’s I Puritani, marking the company’s first new production of the opera in nearly 50 years. Find out what the critics are saying in the reviews below!

The bel canto masterpiece opens the Met’s 2025–26 season with performances running through January 18. The new production is directed by Charles Edwards, who makes his Met directorial debut following numerous collaborations with the company as a set designer. Marco Armiliato conducts a cast led by soprano Lisette Oropesa as Elvira and tenor Lawrence Brownlee as Arturo, with baritone Artur Ruciński as Riccardo and bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as Giorgio.

Set during the English Civil War, I Puritani centers on political division, personal loyalty, and Bellini’s signature long lyrical vocal lines. The opera was written specifically for four virtuosic singers and remains one of the most demanding works in the bel canto repertory.

Video cameras will be in operation during the January 6 and January 10 performances as part of the Met’s Live in HD cinema transmission series.

Joshua Barone, The New York Times: Instead of a happy ending of deus-ex-machina implausibility, which would be difficult to reconcile with Edwards’s treatment of the Puritans, the production offers a tragic twist. Brutality wins out, and when the lights turn green one last time, it’s not clear whether they’ll ever turn off. It’s all simple, effective and timeless. Sequi’s “Puritani” stuck around for nearly 50 years; you could imagine Edwards’s production easily doing the same. As long as it’s well sung.

George Grella, New York Classical Review: Every soprano who attempts the lead role of the Puritan Elvira, in love with the Cavalier Arturo, with this legacy behind her. For this production that is Lisette Oropesa, paired with tenor Lawrence Brownlee. These are also great dramatic roles, and both singers have the substantial technical demands of range, agility, and stamina. The coloratura elements aren’t merely ornamental—Bellini’s greatness was in how he extended the voice with an understanding of how expressive it could be.

Kevin Ng, The Times: There’s no doubt that we’re in a new golden age of bel canto singing, and the pairing of Lisette Oropesa and Lawrence Brownlee easily takes its place with the Sutherlands, Pavarottis, Callases and Di Stefanos of the gloried past. Oropesa’s limpid soprano is pushed to its limits in the heaviest passages of the role but the rest gives her ample opportunity to show off her dazzling coloratura and fluent trill. Where she really shines is in the long, yearning melodies that are Bellini’s hallmark.