Lincoln in the Bardo opens at the Metropolitan Opera on October 19, with eight further performances scheduled through November 14. Missy Mazzoli composed the opera and Royce Vavrek wrote the libretto, adapting George Saunders's novel, according to the Met's premiere announcement.
The Met also lists live audio broadcasts on October 19 and November 11, plus a recorded broadcast on February 13.
| Route | Date information to use |
|---|---|
| Attend the staged opera | Select an actual performance through November 14 |
| Listen live | October 19 or November 11, using the Met's broadcast information |
| Hear the later radio recording | February 13 broadcast schedule |
Curtain times and casts appear on the individual performance pages. The Met identifies conductor changes for October 31 and November 14.
The story follows Abraham Lincoln visiting the cemetery after his son Willie's death. The adaptation brings Saunders's many voices to the stage through singers and musical lines.
The stage production adds puppetry, pyrotechnics and a live horse, the Met says. The audio broadcast offers the score and voices without those visual effects.
The publisher's edition of Saunders's novel supplies a third route: a 368-page book and a separately produced audiobook listed at seven hours and 25 minutes. That audiobook is the novel, with its own narration, not a recording of Mazzoli's opera. The premiere adapts a book first published in 2017, so the October date belongs to the new opera rather than the original story.
The Met's broadcast information has the listening links and any account requirements.
