Janáček's Jenůfa Arrives at the Met Opera with Grigorian and Stemme
Six performances from November 16 to December 4 at the Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center, in a new Claus Guth production.
Leoš Janáček's Jenůfa, first heard in Brno in 1904, comes to the Metropolitan Opera this season in a new production by director Claus Guth. It is a score tied closely to the rhythms of spoken Czech, and the Met has assembled a cast built for its emotional weight.
The cast and the pit
Soprano Asmik Grigorian sings the title role. Nina Stemme takes the formidable part of Jenůfa's stepmother, the Kostelnička, with Allan Clayton as Laca and Sean Panikkar as Števa. In the pit is conductor Tomáš Hanus, making his Met company debut.
The story and the staging
The opera unfolds in a remote Moravian village in the late nineteenth century. It follows a young woman and her stepmother through betrayal and hardship, and the Met describes it as an exploration of forgiveness and of the idea that no one is entirely good or bad. That moral generosity is why the work has endured for more than a century.
The production is the Met's own staging in association with The Royal Opera, Covent Garden. Michael Levine designs the sets, Gesine Völlm the costumes, James Farncombe the lighting and rocafilm/Roland Horvath the projections, with choreography by Teresa Rotemberg and dramaturgy by Yvonne Gebauer.
Dates and tickets
Performances are Monday, November 16 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, November 21 at 1 p.m.; Monday, November 23 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, November 28 at 1 p.m.; Monday, November 30 at 7:30 p.m.; and Friday, December 4 at 7:30 p.m. The house is the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center. Tickets are listed from $33 and are sold at metopera.org/season/2026-27-season/jenufa.
For those who want a second helping of Grigorian, the soprano also gives a recital at the Metropolitan Opera House on November 18, with arias by Puccini, Dvořák, Verdi and Strauss, accompanied by the piano duo Petras and Lukas Geniušas.
A Janáček night is not the usual comfort-food evening at the opera, which is exactly its appeal: a serious, deeply humane drama with two of today's finest singing actresses at its center.