The Met’s New Production of Bellini’s La Sonnambula Premieres October 6
Soprano Nadine Sierra and tenor Xabier Anduaga make their Met role debuts as Amina and Elvino
Rolando Villazón makes his Met directorial debut; Riccardo Frizza conducts
The 2025–26 season of The Met: Live in HD opens with a transmission of La Sonnambula, broadcast worldwide on October 18
New York, NY (August 25, 2025)—The Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Bellini’s La Sonnambula opens October 6, with soprano Nadine Sierra making her company role debut as Amina and tenor Xabier Anduaga in his company role debut as Elvino. The production also launches the 2025–26 season of The Met: Live in HD, with a worldwide cinema transmission on October 18.
Making his Met directorial debut, Rolando Villazón reframes the opera’s themes of love and loss while retaining its original Swiss Alpine setting. Conductor Riccardo Frizza leads a cast that also features soprano Sydney Mancasola as Lisa and bass Alexander Vinogradov as Rodolfo.
The creative team features set designer Johannes Leiacker, costume designer Brigitte Reiffenstuel, lighting designer Donald Holder, projection designer Renaud Rubiano in his Met debut, and choreographer Leah Hausman.
La Sonnambula has been performed only 80 times at the Met and was last presented during the 2013–14 season. Villazón’s staging marks the first new Met production of the opera since 2008.
The 2025–26 season also features a new production of Bellini’s final masterpiece, I Puritani, premiering on New Year’s Eve. In the first new Met staging of the opera in nearly 50 years, soprano Lisette Oropesa and tenor Lawrence Brownlee take on the virtuosic roles of Elvira and Arturo.
Gallery Met
In connection with the new production of La Sonnambula and as part of the company’s Gallery Met initiative, the Met will display a banner by artist Isabella Ducrot on the façade of the opera house from September 8 to November 3. The piece on which the banner is based will also be on view inside the opera house. A gift from Marie Schwartz made the Gallery Met initiative possible in 2006.
Learn more about Gallery Met, curated by Dodie Kazanjian, here.
La Sonnambula Worldwide Broadcasts in Cinema, on Radio, and Online
The performance of La Sonnambula on Saturday, October 18, will be transmitted live to movie theaters around the globe as part of The Met: Live in HD series. Additionally, students and educators across the country will receive complimentary access to screenings of La Sonnambula at their local theaters as part of the HD Live in Schools initiative. As part of this program, the opera will also be transmitted live, for free, into participating high schools in Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island.
Audio from the October 18 performance of La Sonnambula will be broadcast over The Robert K. Johnson Foundation—Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network on April 25, 2026. The performances on October 6 and 14 will be broadcast live on Metropolitan Opera Radio on the SiriusXM app and streamed live on the Met’s website, metopera.org.
Met Under 40
The Met’s popular young-audience program, Met Under 40, continues with discounted ticket options for audiences aged 40 and under in the Orchestra, Grand Tier, and Dress Circle sections for select performances. A special Met Under 40 party will also be held ahead of the performance of La Sonnambula on October 24, featuring complimentary wine, hors d’oeuvres, and more. For further details, please click here.
For More Information
For further details on La Sonnambula, including casting by date, please click here.