Met Opera's Lincoln in the Bardo to Be Broadcast Live for Free

The Metropolitan Opera will present a free international live stream of composer Missy Mazzoli’s world-premiere opera Lincoln in the Bardo, with a libretto by Royce Vavrek, on its YouTube channel. The opera will stream during the sold-out final performance of the run on November 14 and remain available through midnight ET on November 18.

This broadcast—the first of its kind for the Met on YouTube—will support the company’s $1.5 billion Make the Met Forever fundraising campaign. Beginning November 20, the recording will be available on Met Opera on Demand through a range of paid viewing options.

The opera is an adaptation of George Saunders’s Booker Prize–winning novel, set during the Civil War in a ghostly realm known as the bardo, where President Abraham Lincoln is the only living character. Ultimately, the opera is about Lincoln’s acceptance of his son’s death.

Saunders will introduce the broadcast. During intermission, there will be a 17-minute documentary about the making of Lincoln in the Bardo produced by Dua Lipa’s global cultural platform Service95.

Directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz, the production incorporates puppetry, pyrotechnics, and a live horse. Music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts.

The cast features baritone Peter Mattei as Lincoln, soprano Christine Goerke as the Reverend, countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo as Miss Elise Traynor, tenor Jonah Hoskins as Bevins, and bass-baritone Ryan McKinny as Vollman.

The cast also includes soprano Janai Brugger as Mrs. Hodge, mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe as Mrs. Baron, tenor Joshua Blue as Thomas Havens, baritone Craig Colclough as Mr. Baron, and Everett Sobers as Willie, in his Met debut.

The creative team includes Adam Rigg (set designer), Montana Levi Blanco (costume designer), Yi Zhao and Stacey Derosier (co–lighting designers), Hannah Wasileski and Hana S Kim (co–projection designers), James Ortiz (creature-suit and puppet designer), Paul Cremo (dramaturg), Kate Marvin (sound designer), Jeremy Chernick (illusion and special effects designer), and Raja Feather Kelly (choreographer).