Sir Richard Eyre's Production of Mozart's Comedic Masterpiece, LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, Returns To The Met

Sir Richard Eyre's staging of Le Nozze di Figaro, with the action of Mozart's masterpiece relocated to 1930s Seville, returns to the Met on December 6 for 11 performances through to January 19, conducted by Harry Bicket. Initial performances feature soprano Christiane Karg making her Met debut as the maid Susanna, opposite bass-baritone Adam Plachetka as her fiancé, the valet Figaro. Soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen stars as the Countess, a role she sang for her Met debut in the production in 2014, opposite bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni also reprising his interpretation as Count Almaviva, with mezzo-soprano Serena Malfi as his page, Cherubino.

Beginning December 29, a second cast will include soprano Ailyn Pérez, currently earning rave reviews at the Met for her performance in Thaïs, in her company role debut as the Countess. Soprano Nadine Sierra, taking on her third Mozart at the Met following performances in Don Giovanni and Idomeneo, will make her role debut as Susanna. Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard reprises her acclaimed interpretation of Cherubino, with baritone Mariusz Kwiecien and bass-baritone Ildar Abdrazakov also reprising their roles as the Count and Figaro respectively.

Rachel Willis-Sørensen performed as the Countess in the first two seasons of Eyre's production at the Met and has also sung the role at Detroit Opera and Dresden State Opera. She is a winner of the 2010 Met National Council Auditions and First Prize winner of the Operalia competition.

Ailyn Pérez adds a new role to her Met repertory as the Countess, in what is a break-out year for the soprano, singing leading roles in three productions at the company. In addition to the title role in Massenet's Thaïs and the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro she will sing the role of Juliette in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette. Pérez made her company debut in 2015 as Micaëla in Bizet's Carmen.

Christiane Karg makes her Met debut as Susanna, a role she has previously sung at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Hamburg State Opera, and Baden-Baden. As a member of the ensemble at the Frankfurt Opera, she has sung Susanna, as well as Pamina in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Musetta in Puccini's La Bohème, and Zdenka in Strauss' Arabella.

Nadine Sierra makes role debut as Susanna. In 2015, she made her company debut as Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto followed by two other Mozart roles: Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Ilia in Idomeneo. She is also the youngest winner to date of both the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the Marilyn Horne Foundation Vocal Competition.

Serena Malfi made her Met debut as Cherubino in 2014 and sang Zerlina in Don Giovanni in 2016 with the company. Later this season, she will star as Dorabella in the Met's new production premiere of Mozart's Così fan tutte.

Isabel Leonard first sang Cherubino in 2009 and reprised the role during the opening night new production premiere of the 2014-15 season and for the 2015-16 season. She made her Met debut as Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette in 2007 followed by roles as Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Rosina in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Miranda in Thomas Adès' The Tempest, Blanche de la Force in Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites, and Charlotte in Massenet's Werther.

Luca Pisaroni has previously sung the Count during the Met's 2015-16 season and at Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Salzburg Festival, San Francisco Opera, and Vienna State Opera. He made his company debut in 2005 as Publio in La Clemenza di Tito, followed by performances as Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro, Leporello in Don Giovanni, Caliban in the pastoral pastiche The Enchanted Island, and Alidoro in Rossini's La Cenerentola.

Mariusz Kwiecien sang the Count at the Met during the 2004-05 and 2014-15 seasons with the company. He made his Met debut in 1999 as Kuligin in Janá?ek's Ká?a Kabanová, and since then, he has sung over 200 performances with the company. His other roles at the Met include Marcello in Puccini's La Bohème, Riccardo Forth in I Puritani, Belcore in Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore, the title roles of Don Giovanni and the new production of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Zurga in the new production of Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de Perles and the Duke of Nottingham in the Met premiere of Donizetti's Roberto Devereux.

Adam Plachetka adds a new role to his Met repertory singing Figaro. He made his company debut in 2015 as Leporello in Don Giovanni in addition to singing Masetto in Don Giovanni and Belcore in L'Elisir d'Amore. Later this season, he will sing Guglielmo in the Met's new production of Così fan tutte.

Ildar Abdrazakov has previously sung Figaro during the 2012-13 season and the new production premiere in the 2014-15 season at the Met. His other credits with the Met include Escamillo in Carmen, Henry VIII in Donizetti's Anna Bolena, the title character in Borodin's Prince Igor, and Dosifei in Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina. He can be seen later this season in the rare revival as Assur in Rossini's Semiramide.

Harry Bicket, who has previously conducted Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito and Handel's Giulio Cesare at the Met, made his company debut conducting Handel's Rodelinda in 2004. He is currently the Artistic Director of The English Concert and Chief Conductor of Santa Fe Opera.

The December 6 and 23 and January 10 performances of Le Nozze di Figaro will be broadcast live on Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS XM Channel 75. The December 6 performance will also be streamed live on the Met's website, www.metopera.org.

The December 23 matinee performance will be broadcast live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network.

For more information on Le Nozze di Figaro including casting by date, please click here.