2017-2018 Met Opera Season Premiere of Thaïs Is Saturday, Nov. 11

Summary: The 2017-2018 Met Opera season premiere of Thaïs is Saturday, Nov. 11, during the 2017-2018 Met Opera season’s seventh week.

Ailyn Pérez makes her role debut in the title role of John Cox's revived staging of Massenet's Thaïs during the 2017-2018 Met Opera season: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Feb. 15, 2017

The 2017-2018 Met Opera season premiere of Thaïs is Saturday, Nov. 11. The 2017-2018 Met Opera season’s seventh week also includes two performances each of Adès’s The Exterminating Angel and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and Turandot.

The Metropolitan Opera’s season premiere of Thaïs by French Romantic era composer Jules Massenet (May 12, 1842-Aug. 13, 1912) takes place Saturday, Nov. 11, at 1 p.m.EST (Eastern Standard Time). Massenet’s opera about an Alexandrian courtesan’s true purity of heart in Byzantine Egypt has a total of seven performances in November and December.

Six performances, including the season premiere, take place in November. The month’s five additional performances are scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 15, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 18, at 8 p.m.; Wednesday, Nov. 22, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 22, at 8 p.m.; Tuesday, Nov. 28, at 7:30 p.m.

December’s single performance is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 2, at 8 p.m.

Staging by John Cox provides the setting for the 2017-2018 Met Opera season’s performances of Thaïs. The English opera director’s debuted Monday, Dec. 8, 2008, as a new production at the Metropolitan Opera. His production team consists of Duane Schuler, lighting director, and Sara Jo Slate, choreographer.

French fashion designer Christian Marie Marc Lacroix is credited as costume designer for the 2008-2009 new production’s title role, sung by Renée Fleming. American operatic soprano Ailyn Pérez sings the title role for the 2017-2018 Met Opera season.

Thaïs is the 2017-2018 Met Opera season’s seventh season premiere and eighth premiere. Thaïs rates as Met Opera’s 74 most performed opera, according to the Metropolitan Opera’s performance statistics through Oct. 31, 2016.

November’s first full week equates to the 2017-2018 Met Opera season’s seventh week. In addition to the season premiere of Thaïs, the week offers two performances each of two Puccini operas, Madama Butterfly and Turandot, and of Thomas Adès’s The Exterminating Angel.

Madama Butterfly by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini (Dec. 22, 1858-Nov. 29, 1924) starts the 2017-2018 Met Opera season’s seventh week with a performance Monday, Nov. 6, at 7:30 p.m. A second performance takes place Thursday, Nov. 9, at 7:30 p.m.

Madama Butterfly’s season premiere happened Thursday, Nov. 2. Puccini’s tragic opera about a young Japanese geisha’s naiveté about love’s impermanence rates as the 2017-2018 Met Opera season’s sixth season premiere and seventh premiere.

As of Oct. 31,2016, Madama Butterfly is the Metropolitan Opera’s seventh most performance opera.

The week’s second opera is The Exterminating Angel by Thomas Adès. The modern opera about a surreal dinner party is performed Tuesday, Nov. 7, at 7:30 p.m. and Friday, Nov. 10, at 8 p.m.

The opening performance of Adès’s third opera marked The Exterminating Angel’s American premiere. The Met Opera debut took place Thursday, Oct. 26.

The week’s third opera is Puccini’s Turandot. The week’s two performances are Wednesday, Nov. 8, at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 11, at 8 p.m.

The 2017-2018 Met Opera season premiere of Puccini’s opera about riddles as a path to true love took place Thursday, Oct. 12. Turandot appears as the fifth season premiere in the 2017-2018 Met Opera season.

As of Oct. 31, 2016, Turandot places as the 25th most performed opera in the Metropolitan Opera’s repertory.

The takeaways for the 2017-2018 Met Opera season are that the season premiere of Thaïs is Saturday, Nov. 11, and that the season’s seventh week also offers two performances each of Thomas Adès’s The Exterminating Angel and of two Puccini operas, Madama Butterfly and Turandot.

The 2017-2018 Met Opera season's production of Thaïs revives staging debuted during the 2008-2009 season under English opera director John Cox's direction; French fashion designer Christian Lacroix is credited with costumes for the new production's title role, performed by American soprano Renée Fleming: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Nov. 2, 2017

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Ailyn Pérez makes her role debut in the title role of John Cox's revived staging of Massenet's Thaïs during the 2017-2018 Met Opera season: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera via Facebook Feb. 15, 2017, @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.10158357868585533.1073741928.20807115532/10158357949005533/

The 2017-2018 Met Opera season's production of Thaïs revives staging debuted during the 2008-2009 season under English opera director John Cox's direction; French fashion designer Christian Lacroix is credited with costumes for the new production's title role, performed by American soprano Renée Fleming: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera via Facebook Nov. 2, 2017, @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.10159666478675533.1073741943.20807115532/10159666478840533/

For further information:

Marriner, Derdriu. “2017 Met Opera Premiere of Adès’s The Exterminating Angel Is Oct. 26.” Earth and Space News. Monday, Oct. 16, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/10/2017-met-opera-premiere-of-adess.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “2017-2018 Met Opera Season Premiere of Madama Butterfly Is Nov. 2.” Earth and Space News. Monday, Oct. 23, 2017.
Available @ 2017-2018 Met Opera Season Premiere of Madama Butterfly Is Nov. 2

Marriner, Derdriu. “2017-2018 Met Opera Season Premiere of Turandot Is Thursday, Oct. 12.” Earth and Space News. Monday, Oct. 2, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/10/2017-2018-met-opera-season-premiere-of.html

The Metropolitan Opera (metopera). "Stageadvice that's also #sageadvice from my dresser Angie on the best way to tie your boots for a show! She's always looking out for me and my colleagues." Instagram. April 21, 2016.
Available @ https://www.instagram.com/p/BEfDpyfof1F/?taken-by=metopera

The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. "Massenet’s Thaïs November 11-December 2." Facebook. Feb. 15, 2017.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.10158357868585533.1073741928.20807115532/10158357949005533/

The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. "Renée Fleming in the title role of Massenet’s “Thaïs.”Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan OperaTaken during the final dress rehearsal on December 5, 2008 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City." Facebook. Nov. 2, 2017.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.10159666478675533.1073741943.20807115532/10159666478840533/

“New Production: Thaïs." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 352738 Thaïs {64} Metropolitan Opera House: 12/08/2008."
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=352738

"Thaïs." PBS > WNET > Great Performances at the Met.
Available @ http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/gp-at-the-met-thais/552/