Antony and Cleopatra

The most recent opera by preeminent American composer John Adams—a glorious adaptation of Shakespeare’s immortal drama—has its Met premiere. Following her debut in the company premiere of Adams’s El Niño in 2024, soprano Julia Bullock stars as the irresistible Cleopatra, one of theater’s most complex and captivating characters, opposite bass-baritone Gerald Finley as the conflicted Antony. Adams himself takes the podium to conduct his lyrical and richly orchestrated score, leading a new staging by groundbreaking director Elkhanah Pulitzer that transports the story of troubled romance and political strife from ancient Rome to the Golden Age of Hollywood in the 1930s. Tenor Paul Appleby is Caesar, who goes to war with Antony, and mezzo-soprano Elizabeth DeShong is Caesar’s sister and Antony’s forsaken wife Octavia.

Opera in Two Acts
Composed by John Adams
Libretto adapted by John Adams from Shakespeare
With supplementary passages from Plutarch, Virgil, and other classical texts

Production a gift of the Rosalie J. Coe Weir Endowment Fund

Production sponsored by Rolex

Additional support from the Carol Franc Buck Foundation, the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, and the Francis Goelet Endowment Fund

Antony and Cleopatra is part of the Neubauer Family Foundation New Works Initiative

Commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Liceu Opera Barcelona

A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Liceu Opera Barcelona