Ready for Rigoletto

In this fall’s revival of Verdi’s Rigoletto, baritone Quinn Kelsey and soprano Rosa Feola (pictured above) reprise their triumphant turns as the tragic title jester and his naïve daughter, Gilda. But there are also some new faces in the cast, as the pair will be complemented by a trio of notable artists making Met debuts. By Jonathan Minnick

Speranza Scappucci
Conductor | Rome, Italy

A graduate of the Juilliard School, Italian conductor and pianist Speranza Scappucci is one of the world’s fastest-rising maestros. She recently completed her tenure as music director of the Opéra Royal de Wallonie, Liège, a position she held from 2017 to 2022, and earlier this year she debuted as the first-ever female Italian conductor at La Scala. Her repertoire is broad, but she is especially praised for her work in operas by Verdi, Puccini, and Donizetti.

Benjamin Bernheim
Tenor, Duke of Mantua | Paris, France

Tenor Benjamin Bernheim has triumphed in a range of roles in his home country, with Le Monde raving that he offers “the richest and most exciting portrayals heard for a long time on the opera stage.” He previously sang the role of the promiscuous Duke at the Salzburg Festival and the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, and this season he performs the role with the Vienna State Opera before making his highly anticipated arrival in New York.

Aigul Akhmetshina
Mezzo-Soprano, Maddalena | Kirgiz-Miyaki, Russia

At just 26 years old, Aigul Akhmetshina is making impressive waves. Widely recognized for her captivating portrayals of Carmen at Covent Garden, she makes her Met debut as the seductive, shady Maddalena, a role that she has previously performed in London. In September, she made her U.S. debut in San Francisco as Olga in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, and later this season she performs at major houses in Vienna, Paris, Madrid, Venice, Zurich, and Munich.