Maria Stuarda at the Metropolitan Opera House Ticket

A searingly dramatic setting of Friedrich Schiller’s play about Mary, Queen of Scots, and her political and personal rivalry with Queen Elizabeth I of England, Maria Stuarda had a troubled genesis, despite its musical and theatrical brilliance, and only recently achieved a place in the repertory. These two fearsome rivals embody different perceptions of royalty, which were very much in direct conflict at that moment in time, and the opera’s drama is true to history in a way the facts are not. For all the beauty of its orchestral writing, Maria Stuarda is a prime example of the mid–19th-century bel canto style—the drama is firmly embedded in the vocal parts. A notable curiosity of the score is the wide range of casting possibilities for the two leading ladies: either role can be (and has been) sung by a soprano or a mezzo-soprano. Much depends on the contrast of the voices, especially in the great confrontation scene at the end of Act I.

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   The Metropolitan Opera

   On the heels of her triumphant portrayal in the recent new production of Bellini’s I Puritani, Lisette Oropesa climbs another peak of the bel canto soprano repertoire, the doomed Scottish queen at the heart of Donizetti’s charged historical drama. Soprano Angela Meade is Elisabetta, the English monarch out for blood, with tenor René Barbera as Leicester, the nobleman they both love. Maestro Enrique Mazzola takes the podium for David McVicar’s striking production.

• Public transportation options are available nearby
• Wheelchair accessible
• Suitable for all physical fitness levels
• Best available seats are assigned by theater at time of purchase and will be listed on your actual tickets.
• Accessible Seating, please advise in the ‘Special Requirements’ field at the time of check out: Transfer seating (retractable arm aisle seat) or Wheelchair seating (empty wheelchair space)

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