Die Frau ohne Schatten

Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes the podium to lead Strauss’s grand mythological epic, a tour de force for orchestra and soloists alike. A spectacular trio of sopranos lead the ensemble cast, with Elza van den Heever as the otherworldly Empress, Lise Lindstrom as the Dyer’s Wife, and Nina Stemme as the Nurse. Following recent triumphs in Wagner’s Ring cycle and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, baritone Michael Volle is Barak, with tenor Russell Thomas as the Emperor and bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green as the Spirit Messenger.

Premiere: Staatsoper, Vienna, 1919
The fourth collaboration of Richard Strauss and librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal was in many ways their most ambitious: a heavily symbolic morality tale about love and marriage that unfolds in a fairy-tale world of multiple dimensions. Its five lead roles are daunting even by Strauss’s demanding standards, while the orchestral requirements and staging challenges alone assure this opera a unique spot in the repertory.