Visionary artist William Kentridge directs a new production of Berg’s Wozzeck, conducted by Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin and opening December 27

Visionary artist William Kentridge directs a new production of Berg’s Wozzeck, conducted by Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin and opening December 27

• Peter Mattei makes his role debut as the title character,

opposite Elza van den Heever as Marie

• The cast also features Christopher Ventris as the Drum-Major,

Christian Van Horn as the Doctor, and Gerhard Siegel as the Captain.

• Wozzeck will be broadcast live to movie theaters around the world on

Saturday, January 11, as part of The Met: Live in HD series

New York, NY (December 26, 2019)—South African artist and director William Kentridge, who has brought his unique visual style to the Met in recent seasons with Shostakovich’s The Nose and Berg’s Lulu, creates a new Met production of Berg’s Wozzeck, in performances beginning December 27, 2019. Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Metropolitan Opera’s Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director, conducts Berg’s masterpiece of modernism. Kentridge and Nézet-Séguin join forces to interpret Berg’s harrowing psychological thriller, set in an apocalyptic pre–World War I environment.

Peter Mattei makes his role debut as the lowly soldier Wozzeck. Elza van den Heever co-stars as his unfaithful lover Marie. The cast also features Christopher Ventris as the Drum-Major, Christian Van Horn as the Doctor, Gerhard Siegel as the Captain, Tamara Mumford as Margret, and Andrew Staples in his Met debut as Andres.

A co-production with the Salzburg Festival, the Canadian Opera Company, and Opera Australia, Wozzeck is co-directed by Luc De Wit and features projection design by Catherine Meyburgh, set design by Sabine Theunissen, costume design by Greta Goiris, and lighting design by Urs Schönebaum.

Wozzeck Worldwide Broadcasts in Cinema, Radio, and Online

The performance of Wozzeck on Saturday, January 11, will be transmitted live to more than 2,200 movie theaters in more than 70 countries as part of the Met’s Live in HD series. The transmission will be hosted by bass-baritone Eric Owens, who stars as Porgy in the Met’s new production of the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess this season.

The December 27, January 11, and January 22 performances of Wozzeck will be broadcast live on Metropolitan Opera Radio on Sirius XM Channel 75. The January 11 performance will be broadcast over the Toll Brothers–Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network, and the December 27 performance will also be streamed live on the Met’s web site, metopera.org.

Wozzeck Artist Biographies

South African soprano Elza van den Heever makes her Met role debut as Marie. She made her Met debut in 2012 as Elisabetta in Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda, reprising the role with the company in 2016. Other roles at the Met include Vitellia in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito, Chrysothemis in Strauss’s Elektra, Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and Elettra in Mozart’s Idomeneo. Recent performances include the title role of Bellini’s Norma at Oper Frankfurt, Chrysothemis at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Elsa in Wagner’s Lohengrin at Vienna State Opera, and Leonore in Beethoven’s Fidelio at Opernhaus Zürich. This season, she also sings the Empress in Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten at Dutch National Opera and Elsa in Zurich.

American mezzo-soprano Tamara Mumford reprises Margret, which she sang previously at the Met in 2014. She is a graduate of the Met’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and has sung many roles with the company, including Third Lady in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Pilgrim in Kaija Saariaho’s L’Amour de Loin, Hippolyta in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Pauline in Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades, Dryad in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, Smeton in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena, and Flosshilde in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. She recently made her house debut at Santa Fe Opera in the world premiere of Poul Ruders’s The Thirteenth Child.

English tenor Christopher Ventris makes his Met role debut as the Drum-Major after making his house debut in 2003 as Steva in Janáček’s Jenůfa. He has sung many Wagner roles at Vienna State Opera, including the title roles of Lohengrin and Parsifal, and Siegmund in Die Walküre. Other recent performances include Max in Weber’s Der Freischütz in Vienna, Florestan in Beethoven’s Fidelio at Hamburg State Opera, Jimmy Mahoney in Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at Opernhaus Zürich, and in concert as Prince Andrey Khovansky in Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London. This season, he sings Tristan in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde at the Royal Danish Opera, Siegmund at Teatro Real in Madrid, and Parsifal in Hamburg.

German tenor Gerhard Siegel reprises the Captain, a role he sang at the Met in 2011 and has also sung at Lyric Opera of Chicago. At the Met, he has been seen as the Witch in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, Herod in Strauss’s Salome, and Mime in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, the role of his debut in 2004, which he has performed at the Met more than 30 times. Other recent performances include the Emperor in Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Verbier Festival, Piet vom Fass in Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre at the Semperoper Dresden, and the Witch at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. This season, he also sings Mime at Paris Opera and the Scrivener in Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina at Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin.

English tenor Andrew Staples makes his Met debut as Andres. He has previously been seen in roles such as Tamino in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Narraboth in Strauss’s Salome at the Verbier Festival, Froh in Wagner’s Das Rheingold at Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, and Tichon in Janáček’s Káťa Kabanová at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. This season, he also sings the title role of Mozart’s Idomeneo in Berlin and Tichon at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma.

Swedish baritone Peter Mattei makes his role debut as Wozzeck. He made his Met debut in 2002 as the Count in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, and since then has performed roles including Amfortas in Wagner’s Parsifal, the title role in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Shishkov in Janáček’s From the House of the Dead, Figaro in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, the title role in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Prince Yeletsky in Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades, Marcello in Puccini’s La Bohème, and Wolfram in Wagner’s Tannhäuser. Recent performances include Don Giovanni at Vienna State Opera, Amfortas at Paris Opera, and Eugene Onegin at Opernhaus Zürich and in Paris.

American bass-baritone Christian Van Horn makes his role debut as the Doctor. His past Met performances have included Publio in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito, the title role of Boito’s Mefistofele, Colline in Puccini’s La Bohème, Pistola in a new production of Verdi’s Falstaff, the Speaker in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, and Julio in the Met premiere of Thomas Adès’s The Exterminating Angel. Last season, he was awarded the prestigious Richard Tucker Award. Other performances this season include John Claggart in Britten’s Billy Budd and Zoroastro in Handel’s Orlando at San Francisco Opera, as well as Walter in Verdi’s Luisa Miller at Lyric Opera of Chicago. This season at the Met, he also sings Colline and Alidoro in Rossini’s La Cenerentola.

With the start of the 2018–19 season, Yannick Nézet-Séguin became the Met’s Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director. He made his Met debut in the 2009–10 season, conducting a new production of Bizet’s Carmen. The Canadian conductor has returned in every subsequent season, leading performances of Wagner’s Parsifal and Der Fliegende Holländer, Strauss’s Elektra, Verdi’s Don Carlo, Gounod’s Faust, Verdi’s La Traviata, and Dvořák’s Rusalka. He also led the Opening Night performance of the Met’s 2015–16 season, a new production of Verdi’s Otello. Last season, he conducted the Met’s new production of La Traviata as well as performances of Debussy’s Pélleas et Mélisande and Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites. He has conducted a wide breadth of repertoire at several the world’s leading companies, including the Vienna State Opera, La Scala, Dutch National Opera, the Salzburg Festival, and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He is also a frequent guest conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Since 2012, he has been music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He is also music director of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain. Earlier this season at the Met, he conducted Puccini’s Turandot, and later this season leads a revival of Massenet’s Werther and the New Year’s Eve Gala of selected acts from Puccini’s La Bohème, Tosca, and Turandot with Anna Netrebko.

South African director William Kentridge returns to the Met following his 2010 debut helming the company premiere of Shostakovich’s The Nose, followed by a new production of Berg’s Lulu in 2015. In 1998, he staged his first opera production, Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria, at the Kunstenfestival des Arts in Brussels. He has also directed Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, which premiered at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels and was later seen at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He is known for combining drawing, animation, filmmaking, and collage. As one of the world’s most preeminent visual artists, his work has been the subject of major gallery shows and museum retrospectives around the world. Most recently, he presented his largest exhibition to date, Why Should I Hesitate: Putting Drawings to Work, at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art in Cape Town.

Belgian director Luc de Wit previously co-directed Shostakovich’s The Nose and Berg’s Lulu at the Met with William Kentridge. He began his career as an actor but later worked increasingly as a stage director, and since 1995 has focused mainly on directing operas. He has collaborated with William Kentridge since 2005, directing the revivals of Kentridge’s productions around the world, including Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria. In 2012, he worked with William Kentridge and composer Philip Miller on the chamber opera Refuse the Hour. He also worked as movement director on Guy Cassier’s production of Götterdämmerung at the Berlin State Opera and La Scala, He also teaches at the Lassaad International Theatre School in Brussels.

South African projection designer Catherine Meyburgh has worked extensively with William Kentridge over the course of 25 years, including his Met productions of Shostakovich’s The Nose and Berg’s Lulu. Among her other projects with Kentridge are Breathe, Woyzeck on the Highveld, The Magic Flute, Five Themes, and I am not me, the horse is not mine. She has been working in film for more than 20 years and is active in the South African Guild of Editors. She has been involved in training young film editors and has directed and edited multiple documentary and short films, including Dying for Gold, The Clay Ox, and Nelson Mandela: The Myth & Me. Her work in television includes the drama series Yizo Yizo, Tolerance, Soul City, and Mandiba: A Hero for All Seasons.

Belgian set designer Sabine Theunissen made her Met debut designing sets for Shostakovich’s The Nose, followed by Berg’s Lulu. She has also designed sets for Kentridge’s productions of Schubert’s Winterreise at the Holland Festival and for his installations Why Should I Hesitate: Putting Drawings to Work at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art in Cape Town and Refusal of Time at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She has previously worked for La Scala as a set assistant on productions of Verdi’s Don Carlo, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Verdi’s Falstaff, Giordano’s Fedora, and von Weber’s Oberon. From 1995 to 2007, she worked in the technical office of the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, serving as set assistant for productions including Britten’s Turn of the Screw, Verdi’s Otello, Rossini’s La Cenerentola, Puccini’s Tosca, Kris Defoort’s The Woman Who Walked into Doors, Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust, Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria, Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Mozart’s Così fan tutte. Since 2007, she has served as production manager at La Monnaie.

Belgian costume designer Greta Goiris made her Met debut designing costumes for Shostakovich’s The Nose, followed by Berg’s Lulu. She has worked extensively as a freelance costume designer for theater and opera; past engagements include Kentridge’s productions of Schubert’s Winterreise at the Holland Festival and Mozart’s The Magic Flute at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie. Additional credits with other opera companies include Dukas’s Ariane et Barbe-bleue at Ópera de Dijon and Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris. For several years, she has collaborated with the Dutch director Johan Simmons, first at Zuidelijk Toneel Hollandia (Eindhoven, Netherlands) and on subsequent productions of the Martin McDonagh’s Leenane Trilogy; Claus’s Vrijdag; Shakespeare’s Richard III; Sentimenti, an adaption of Ralf Rothmann Milch und Kohle; Calderon’s Het Leven een Droom; Grabbe’s Hannibal; Euripides’s Bacchanten; and Aeschylus’s Oresteia.

German lighting designer Urs Schönebaum made his Met debut with Shostakovich’s The Nose, followed by Berg’s Lulu. He has served as a lighting designer for opera, theater, installations, and performances in more than 70 productions at major theaters worldwide, at venues including Lincoln Center Festival, Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, the Baden-Baden Festival, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Berlin State Opera, and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. From 2005 to 2008, he worked as lighting designer in residence at the Bavarian State Opera, where he designed more than 15 productions.

For More Information

For further details on Wozzeck, please click here.

  Wozzeck

Music and libretto by Alban Berg

Friday, December 27 at 8:00 p.m.

Thursday, January 2 at 8:00 p.m.

Tuesday, January 7 at 8:00 p.m.

Saturday, January 11 at 1:00 p.m.

Thursday, January 16 at 8:00 p.m.

Sunday, January 19 at 3:00 p.m.

Wednesday, January 22 at 8:00 p.m.

*Met debut

A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera; Salzburg Festival;

the Canadian Opera Company, Toronto; and Opera Australia

Production a gift of Robert L. Turner

For prices and ticket information, please call (212) 362-6000 or visit metopera.org. Special rates for groups of 10 or more are available by calling (212) 341-5410 or visiting metopera.org/groups.