The Metropolitan Opera’s 2025–26 Season Opens with Gala Performance and Company Premiere of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay on September 21

Grammy Award–winning composer Mason Bates makes his company debut;

Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts a production directed by Bartlett Sher

Free public programming at synagogues and temples around New York, Pioneer Works, and WNYC’s Citywide Book Club Get Lit; and ticketed programming for Guggenheim’s Works & Progress 

New York, NY (August 6, 2025)—The Metropolitan Opera opens its 140th season with the company premiere of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, the operatic adaptation of Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel. The Met-commissioned opera—composed by Grammy Award–winning composer Mason Bates, to a libretto by Gene Scheer—premieres on Sunday, September 21, at 6:30PM.

“This story resonates now more than ever: two young artists using their imaginative powers to challenge authority and change the world,” said Bates. “As a composer who fell in love with opera while attending shows at The Met in college, I am so honored to bring this iconic American tale to life in the very same building. Gene Scheer, Bart Sher, and the extraordinary team have been a joy to work with.”

Under the baton of the Met’s Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the world of 1940s New York comes vividly to life as two Jewish cousins—a refugee from Nazi-occupied Prague and a closeted gay Brooklynite—forge a bond through the creation of the Escapist, a comic book superhero who fights fascism and frees the oppressed.

“Mason Bates’s Kavalier & Clay is the perfect way to open our season—it’s bold, contemporary, and rooted in themes of hope, reinvention, and the fight for justice,” says Maestro Nézet-Séguin. “This opera invites us to celebrate the power of art, just as the characters do through the creation of their comics. It reminds us that in even the darkest times, imagination can be a lifeline.”

“With autocracy on the rise, Kavalier & Clay couldn’t be more timely,” said Peter Gelb, the company’s Maria Manetti Shrem General Manager. “Mason’s epic of an opera, although set during World War II, should be an inspiration to those who wish to see present-day fascism defeated.”

Baritone Andrzej Filończyk makes his Met debut as Joe Kavalier, the gifted artist who flees war-torn Europe, opposite tenor Miles Mykkanen as his cousin and writing partner, Sam Clay. The cast also includes soprano Lauren Snouffer—in her Met debut—as Sarah Kavalier, mezzo-soprano Sun-Ly Pierce as Rosa Saks, baritone Edward Nelson as Tracy Bacon, and bass-baritones Patrick Carfizzi and Craig Colclough as Sheldon Anapol and Gerhard, respectively.    

Blending sweeping orchestration, jazz-inflected rhythms, and electronic music, Kavalier & Clay explores themes of identity, survival, and liberation through three distinct musical worlds. The production is led by Tony Award–winning director Bartlett Sher, with colossal set pieces and cinematic projections designed by a returning team from 59 Studio.

The opera marks the ninth Met production for Sher, and the creative team also features debuts by costume designer Jennifer Moeller, sound designer Rick Jacobsohn, and Emmy Award–winning choreographer Mandy Moore. Paul Cremo, who also directs the Met’s Opera Commissioning Program, supports the production as dramaturg.  

Following the Opening Night Gala performance on September 21, there are six additional performances through October 11.

The 2025–26 season also includes two additional Met premieres—Kaija Saariaho’s Innocence (Apr. 6–29) and Gabriela Lena Frank’s El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego (May 14–Jun. 5)—as well as new productions of Bellini’s La Sonnambula (Oct. 6–Nov.1) and I Puritani (Dec. 31–Jan. 18) and Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde (Mar. 9–Apr. 2) and revivals of works by Bizet, Donizetti, the Gershwins, Giordano, Puccini, Mozart, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, and Verdi.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay Broadcasts on Radio and Online

The September 21 and October 2 performances of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay will be broadcast live on the SiriusXM app, and a fall performance will be rebroadcast on January 3. Audio from the September 21 and October 2 performances will also be streamed live on the Met’s website, metopera.org. Audio from a fall performance will be rebroadcast on The Robert K. Johnson Foundation–Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network on January 3.

In conjunction with the performances of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, the Met is scheduled to host a number of public programs. The full list of events and details are below.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay Public Programs and Special Events

Guggenheim’s Works & Process
Peter B. Lewis Theater at the Guggenheim Museum
Monday, September 8, 7PM

Ahead of the premiere of Mason Bates’s new opera, Met General Manager Peter Gelb moderates a discussion with the production’s creative team, while members of the cast perform highlights from the score. For tickets and further details, click here.  

From Page to Stage
Park Avenue Synagogue
Thursday, September 11, 7PM

PAS and the Met host a discussion about The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, as well as selections from the opera. Rabbi Lori Koffman will moderate a panel featuring PAS music director David Enlow, composer Mason Bates, and Dr. Miriam Mora, historian of Jewish immigration. Tickets and registration will become available in August.

Second Sundays
Pioneer Works
Sunday, September 14, 1PM

Designer Mark Grimmer and comic-book expert Chip Kidd come together in conversation about the history of the genre, the use of projection in live art, and how to make superhero animation come to life in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Dr. Miriam Mora moderates the event, which also features performances by the cast. Free; registration is required and opens mid-August.

Discussion and Selected Performances from The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Temple Emanu-El Streicker Cultural Center
Tuesday, September 16, 7PM

The Temple Emanu-El Streicker Cultural Center welcomes members from the cast of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay to perform selections from the opera. Composer Mason Bates, librettist Gene Scheer, and director Bartlett Sher come together for a conversation about translating a book for the operatic stage and capturing the essence of New York Jewry as the Nazi nightmare unfolded. Free; registration required. 

WNYC “Get Lit with All of It” Book Club at The New York Public Library 
Wednesday, September 24, 6PM
In person and Livestreamed at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library

WNYC and the New York Public Library’s “Get Lit with All of It” partners with the Met to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Hear from Chabon and the opera creators about the adaptation, with special musical performances from the cast. Free; registration required. Registration opens in the coming weeks. For further details, click here.

Lincoln Center: Create-athons for Teens
Draw Your Escape: Creating Comics
Clark Studio Theater
Sunday, September 28, 1PM

To mark the Met premiere of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Lincoln Center’s first Create-athon of the 2025­–26 season dives into the world of superheroes and supervillains. Comic-book illustrator Joshua Edelglass and writer Arnon Z. Shorr will teach young creators how to make their own digital comic-book panel and bring it to life with added sound effects. Free; for further details, click here.

Pre-Show Screening and Lecture
Monday, September 29, 6PM
Metropolitan Opera House

Prior to the September 29 performance of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, audience members can enjoy a screening of the documentary JewCE: The Jewish Comics Experience (2024), followed by a lecture presented by Dr. Miriam Mora. For further details, click here.

For more information on all public programming, click here.

Gallery Met

In connection with the Met premiere of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay and as part of the company’s Gallery Met initiative, the Met will display a banner by artist Jamian Juliano-Villani on the opera house’s façade. A gift from Marie Schwartz made the Gallery Met initiative possible in 2006. Learn more about Gallery Met, curated by Dodie Kazanjian, here.

Met Under 40

During the 2025–26 season, the Met’s popular young-audience program, Met Under 40, expands to offer 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 September 26 performance of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, featuring complimentary beverages, hors d’oeuvres, and more. For further details, please click here.

Toll Rush Tickets
The Met Opera app is now available for download on mobile devices, offering users a new way to purchase Toll Rush Tickets via an automated lottery. Lotteries open two weeks prior to a performance, and winners are notified the day before the performance. Toll Rush Tickets can also be purchased on a first-come, first-served basis by visiting metopera.org at 12PM for weekday performances, 2PM for Saturday evening performances, and four hours before curtain for matinee performances. Learn more about the Met Opera app here.

For More Information

For further details on The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, including casting by date, please click here.