‘I Puritani’ and ‘Carmen’ at The Metropolitan Opera

This January, Christian Van Horn returns to The Metropolitan Opera in two overlapping productions, returning to a signature performance and making a thrilling role debut. 

Van Horn rings in the new year with Bellini’s, I Puritani, The Met’s first new production of the bel canto tragedy in nearly 50 years. Bellini’s final opera, I Puritani demands a virtuosic quartet of singers, both vocally and dramatically. Directed by Charles Edwards and led by conductor Marco Armiliato, Van Horn makes his role debut as Georgio Walton, the opera’s moral anchor and the compassionate core of the story. Lisette Oropesa plays his niece, Elvira, alongside Lawrence Brownlee as her lover, Lord Arturo Talbot, and  Artur Ruciński as her betrothed, Riccardo Forth. I Puritani opens on December 31, with performances through January 18. 

At the same time, Van Horn brings his “monumental” (Opera Today) Escamillio in Bizet’s Carmen to the stage of The Met. Van Horn’s relationship with this iconic role spans nearly two decades, and he has previously bowed as the toreador at San Francisco Opera, Royal Opera and Ballet, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Canadian Opera Company. Van Horn performs January 11, 14, 17, 20, and 23, singing under the batons of Pier Giorgio Morandi and Derrick Inouye. Aigul Akhmetshina sings the title role, with Janai Brugger as Micaëla, and Michael Fabiano as Don José.