Maria Stuarda

Maria Stuarda plays the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center from 6 to 22 December 2026. Lisette Oropesa takes the title role in David McVicar's production, with Angela Meade as Elisabetta and Enrique Mazzola conducting.

Maria Stuarda: the story

Two queens, one throne, and a confrontation that never actually happened. Donizetti sets Schiller's play about Mary, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I, and builds the whole opera towards a meeting between them that history did not provide but drama demands. It is one of the summits of the bel canto repertoire, and it asks both sopranos for everything they have.

Maria Stuarda casting at the Met

Soprano Lisette Oropesa sings Maria Stuarda, following her acclaimed I Puritani at the house, with soprano Angela Meade as Elisabetta and tenor René Barbera as Leicester, the nobleman they both love. Enrique Mazzola conducts. Casts rotate between performances, so check the date you want before booking.

The production of Maria Stuarda at the Met

David McVicar directs. His productions of Tosca and Medea also run at the Met this season. World premiere: Teatro alla Scala, Milan, 1835.

Maria Stuarda at the Metropolitan Opera House: dates and language

Maria Stuarda is sung in Italian at the Metropolitan Opera House, the 3,800-seat house on the Lincoln Center plaza. Every seat has a Met Title, a small subtitle screen on the seat back in front of you showing the translation in English, Spanish or German. The run is 6 to 22 December 2026.

More opera and theatre in New York

See Tosca, La Bohème, Lincoln in the Bardo and Macbeth at the Met, plus Much Ado About Nothing and Paranormal Activity on Broadway.