The Metropolitan Opera's very first concert with conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin since March 2020 is happening on Sunday. Nézet-Séguin will lead members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus, and soloists Angel Blue, Stephen Costello, Justin Austin, and Eric Owens, in "A Concert for New York" that'll feature works from the Lacrymosa movement of the Mozart Requiem to the aria Peculiar Grace from Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones, which is planned to be the company's first opera to be performed in September and the first opera by a Black composer.
The program also includes the overture to Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, as well as arias from that opera sung by Mr. Costello and Mr. Owens. Angel Blue sings the Ave Maria from Verdi’s Otello and joins the Met Chorus in selections from Mozart’s Idomeneo and Vesperae Solennes de Confessore.
Attendance at the concert, which is slated to happen at the Knockdown Center at 6 and 8:30pm, is limited to 150 people. Tickets are being distributed by lottery to Met audience members and to first responders affiliated with Mount Sinai’s hospital in Queens.
"As the city’s largest performing arts company, we are determined to participate in New York’s re-opening, even though there is much still to be settled with our unions and in preparing the opera house for next season," said Peter Gelb, the Met’s General Manager. "With the Met currently unavailable, we’re excited to present this concert at the Knockdown Center."
Audience members must provide proof of vaccination or proof of negative PCR test within 72 hours of the performance or proof of a negative antigen text within six hours before the performance. Masks will be required.