Met Opera announces smallest lineup since 1966

NEW YORK

Despite improved box office figures in the first half of the current season, the financially strained Metropolitan Opera has reduced its 2026-27 schedule to 17 productions, the lowest total in a non-truncated season since moving to Lincoln Center in 1966.

The lineup includes just five new stagings. Revivals of three popular works — Puccini’s “Tosca” and “La Bohème,” and Verdi’s “Aida” — account for 71 of the 187 performances, representing thirty-eight percent of the total.

General Manager Peter Gelb described the extended runs as an experiment aimed at efficiency. “It makes more sense for us,” he said, noting that double-casting helps limit the number of different productions running each week.

Ticket sales have reached seventy-two percent this season, up from seventy percent in the first half of 2024-25. Gelb said attendance has essentially returned to pre-pandemic levels, though overall revenue remains lower due to a younger audience and increased discounting.

Mason Bates’ “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay,” which opened in a world premiere, sold eighty-four percent of tickets and added four extra performances. Other strong sellers included Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” at eighty-three percent, Bellini’s “I Puritani” at eighty-two percent, Puccini’s “Turandot” at seventy-seven percent and “Madama Butterfly” at seventy-four percent. “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess” drew seventy-three percent. Among the weakest were Giordano’s “Andrea Chenier” at fifty-seven percent and Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” and Strauss’ “Arabella” at sixty-four percent each.

The new season opens Sept. 22 with a new production of Verdi’s “Macbeth,” starring Lise Davidsen. Composer Missy Mazzoli’s “Lincoln in the Bardo” premieres Oct. 19. Three additional productions new to the Met are also scheduled, including Janáček’s “Jenůfa,” Puccini’s “La Fanciulla del West” and the company premiere of Kevin Puts’ “Silent Night.”

A gala on May 25, 2027, will mark the company’s 60th season at Lincoln Center.

Budget tightening has included twenty-two layoffs and temporary salary cuts ranging from four percent to fifteen percent. A planned staging of Mussorgsky’s “Khovanshchina” has been postponed as part of cost-cutting measures.

Gelb said next season will mark his twentieth anniversary as general manager and confirmed he intends to retire when his current contract expires in 2030, adding that balancing artistic ambition with financial realities remains his central challenge.