NEW YORK — Yuval Sharon, an American known for his innovative productions, will direct the Metropolitan Opera’s next stagings of Wagner’s Ring Cycle and “Tristan und Isolde,” both starring soprano Lise Davidsen and conducted by music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
The Met also said Tuesday that Nézet-Séguin’s contract has been extended by six years through 2029-2030.
Sharon’s “Tristan” opens on March 9, 2026. The Ring will launch with “Das Rheingold” from the second half of the 2027-2028 season, include “Die Walküre” and “Siegfried” in 2028-29, and will be supplemented with “ Gotterdämmerung ” in 2029-30 Davidsen will sing Brünnhilde, and in the spring of 2030 there will be complete cycles.
Sharon was chosen by Nézet-Séguin and Met general director Peter Gelb.
“We were both committed to a very theatrical Ring, but we need to have something at the Met that reaches seats that are quite far away from the stage,” Nézet-Séguin said. “After a while it became a bit clear to us that this should be Yuval.”
Sharon, 44, has presented a shortened version of Wagner’s “Götterdämmerung (The Twilight of the Gods)” in parking lots in Detroit and Chicago, the third act of “Die Walküre” in Los Angeles and Detroit with a green screen for animation and computer graphics , and Puccini’s “La Bohème” which reverses the order of the actions to portray Mimì as becoming healthier rather than succumbing to illness.
Sharon would not discuss his Met projects publicly, spokeswoman Amanda Ameer said.
“He wants the concept fully developed before he starts talking about it,” Gelb said. “I would put that down as his artistic eccentricity, which I can sympathize with.”
In addition, Davidsen will star in Verdi’s ‘Macbeth’ on September 22, 2026, which opens the 2026-2027 season, under the direction of Nézet-Séguin.
“I am pleased that Lisa Davidsen has chosen the Met as her house of choice,” said Nézet-Séguin.
Davidsen is planning a fully staged “Tristan” for her Met production and will sing Brünnhilde in at least one of the Ring operas before New York.
Sharon founded The Industry Opera in Los Angeles in 2010 and has been artistic director of the Detroit Opera since 2020. He became the first American to direct at the Richard Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, Germany, in 2018 with “Lohengrin.”
Wagner’s “Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelungs)” contains 15 hours of music over four days and is considered opera’s greatest and most expensive challenge.
The Met announced in February 2021 a co-production with the English National Opera, directed by Richard Jones, beginning in 2025, with full cycles in 2026–2027. The ENO canceled the project halfway through last year due to financing uncertainty.
Sharon’s production will replace a staging by Robert Lepage that appeared in 2012, 2013 and 2019 and gained infamy with ‘The Machine’, a 45-ton metal structure with 24 planks that malfunctioned on several occasions. New Yorker critic Alex Ross called it “the most stupid and wasteful production in modern opera history.”
The Met gave the American premiere of the Ring in 1889 and has presented five integrated cycle productions since the early 20th century, including Franz Hörth directing the sets of Hans Kautsky (1914-44), and Herbert Graf directing the sets of Lee Simonson (1948-62). , Herbert Von Karajan’s staging with Günther Schneider-Siemssen’s abstract sets (1975), and Otto Schenk’s Ring with Schneider-Siemssen’s traditional sets (1989-2004).
Met Chairman Ann Ziff will be lead financier of Sharon’s Ring, and Gelb said it likely won’t be co-produced with another company.
Nézet-Séguin, 49, became Met music director in 2018-2019 following the end of James Levine’s 40-year tenure in 2016. Nézet-Séguin, a four-time Grammy Award winner, has been music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra since 2012-2013. and last year he received a contract until 2029-2030. Since 2010, he has been music director of the Orchester Métropolitain in Montreal.
As part of the Met’s focus on contemporary works, Nézet-Séguin will conduct the company premieres of Mason Bates’ “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier.” & Clay” (2025-2026 season opens September 21), Gabriela Lena Franks “El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego” (May 14, 2026), Missy Mazzoli’s “Lincoln in the Bardo” (October 23, 2026), Carlos Simon’s “The Highlands ‘ (March 8, 2027) and Huang Ruo’s ‘The Wedding Banquet’, along with a new Robert Carsen staging of Mozart’s ‘Le Nozze di Figaro’. He will lead revivals of Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni’, Puccini’s ‘Tosca’ and Wagner’s ‘Parsifal’.
“It is important to show a broad palette of composers,” said Nézet-Séguin. “It’s actually at the core of my mission, and this is also the reason why I innovate. I feel like we’ve just started that journey.”
