The Met: Live In HD Season Opens With LA SONNAMBULA

The Metropolitan Opera's new production of Bellini's La Sonnambula marks the beginning of the 19th season of The Met: Live in HD on Saturday, October 18, at 1PM ET, with soprano Nadine Sierra making her company role debut as Amina and tenor Xabier Anduaga in his company role debut as Elvino. In recent Live in HD seasons, Sierra has sung the role of Juliette in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette (2024), Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata (2022), and the title role of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor (2022). Anduaga's turn as Elvino also marks his Live in HD debut.

Making his Met directorial debut, Rolando Villazón explores the opera's themes of love and loss while retaining its original setting in the Swiss Alps. Conductor Riccardo Frizza leads a cast that also features soprano Sydney Mancasola as Lisa and bass Alexander Vinogradov as Count Rodolfo.

The creative team includes set designer Johannes Leiacker, costume designer Brigitte Reiffenstuel, lighting designer Donald Holder, projection designer Renaud Rubiano in his Met debut, and choreographer Leah Hausman. The October 18 performance of La Sonnambula will mark the opera's 84th performance at the Met and second Live in HD transmission to cinemas worldwide. Villazón's staging marks the first new Met production of the opera since 2009.

Gary Halvorson will direct the Live in HD presentation for cinemas, and Grammy Award– and Pulitzer Prize–winning musician and composer Rhiannon Giddens will host the transmission, sharing exclusive behind-the-scenes content and interviews during intermission.