From Mozart to Donizetti to Verdi, mad scenes abound in the operatic repertoire—none more memorable than the title heroine’s extended descent into insanity in Lucia di Lammermoor. Discover some of the great divas (including Anna Netrebko, pictured above) who have thrilled and terrified Met audiences with their mad scenes over the past 60 years.
Joan Sutherland in the title role of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, 1961
Renata Scotto as Lady Macbeth in Verdi’s Macbeth, 1984
Carol Vaness as Elettra in Mozart’s Idomeneo, 1991
Anna Netrebko as Elvira in Bellini’s I Puritani, 2006
Natalie Dessay in the title role of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, 2007
Maria Guleghina as Lady Macbeth in Verdi’s Macbeth, 2008
Marlis Petersen as Ophélie in Thomas’s Hamlet, 2010
