Up-and-coming maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin also makes his company debut, leading a cast that also includes Barbara Frittoli as Micaela and Mariusz Kwiecien as Escamillo. The acclaimed young choreographer Christopher Wheeldon is creating a number of dances for the production.

Rob Howell designs the sets and costumes, the lighting is by Peter Mumford.

This journey will be led by Olivier Award-winning theater and film director Richard Eyre, who makes his Met debut with the staging. 'You don't get to develop productions of Carmen from scratch very often,' she says, 'so I'm really looking forward to exploring the character further.' With the experience of these performances under her belt, Garanča feels well prepared for her Met role debut. Just this past October, she won great acclaim singing the part at London's Royal Opera House: opposite Roberto Alagna, a veteran in the role of Carmen's lover and nemesis, Don José, who will also be her co-star at the Met. The Latvian mezzo, who has triumphed in Rossini operas here over the past two seasons, has previously portrayed Bizet's heroine in revivals in her native Riga and in Rome. 'I am so excited to be doing a new production of Carmen at the Met,' Garanča says. On New Year's Eve, Elīna Garanča added her name to a pantheon of Met mezzos who have inhabited the role, including Risë Stevens, Shirley Verrett, and Marilyn Horne, among many others. For a mezzo-soprano, there's no greater vehicle than Carmen, which can elevate a diva's career to the absolute highest ranks.

She casts a giant shadow, extending beyond this opera and even beyond the genre itself to become part of our collective imagination. But the gypsy Carmen towers over Bizet's masterpiece in a way that surpasses most other operas' eponymous heroes or heroines. That may seem obvious most operas, of course, center on one lead character.

Carmen metropolitan opera house