Lincoln in the Bardo at the Met Opera
Missy Mazzoli Triumphs
By: Susan Hall - Oct 21, 2026
Missy Mazzoli’s new opera, Lincoln in the Bardo, had its world premiere at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. As a leading contemporary American composer, Mazzoli writes exceptionally well for the human voice. The Met has provided a luxury cast featuring Peter Mattei as Lincoln alongside Stephanie Blythe, Christine Goerke, and Anthony Roth Costanzo, all in top form. Gender fluidity is a pro
While the entire cast delivered strong performances, Everett Sobers earned special credit for his portrayal of young Willie Lincoln, tackling a difficult role with purity, elegance, and a slightly wicked edge.
Adam Rigg designed a complex set featuring a three-tiered walkway with tangling vines, though its overall effect is plainer than the costumes. Created by Montana Levi Blanco, those costumes are thickly textured with the brown dust and dirt of the bardo in Oak Hill Cemetery and reflect the diverse historic periods of the buried characters. Although George Saunders’ original book features 166 voices, the Met manages with under a hundred, yet the stage remains crowded with spirits who sing and dance in the belief that they are still alive.
The story falls short of exploring President Lincoln’s grief as deeply as the Saunders book does, capturing a world closer to purgatory than the Tibetan bardo, complete with horrors and humor. Ms. Blythe brings notable humor and a wide-ranging voice to the role of Mrs. Baron, balancing her grand performance with delicate gestures that lighten a generally somber narrative.
The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra successfully met the challenges of a new score, earning special praise for the horns, brass, and percussion under the direction of conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Mazzoli's score features expressive ensemble phrases and woodwind solos, blending novelty and traditional tonality to remain accessible. The orchestration functions as a premonition, using sliding notes from growling brass up to the stratosphere to signal a cry for help or down to ask for quiet. Gorgeous textures lend the music an innocent sound that contrasts sharply with the tangled world of Willie and his father.
Historically, when composers like Giuseppe Verdi and Richrd Wagner took charge of their own librettos, wonderful works emerged. The Metropolitan Opera continues its commitment to new work following previous efforts like Nico Muhly's Marnie, a production that suffered because the libretto failed to explore why Mark Rutland would fall in love with a woman stealing from him, omitting key context about his obsession with training wild animals.
Despite wonderful music from Ms. Mazzoli and full cooperation from the author, Lincoln in the Bardo misses the emotional core of the book: President Lincoln's extreme grief over the death of his eleven-year-old son. A similar issue appeared in Ms. Mazzoli's earlier opera, Breaking the Waves, where Bess McNeill’s feeble-mindedness and heightened sexuality were lost in translation from film to stage.
Young composers often seem dominated by their librettists. While older writers like MarkCampbell sometimes use too many words, their librettos still hit the emotional heartbeat of a story, a quality missing from many contemporary librettists.Composers like Ms. Mazzoli and Mr. Muhly sit at the forefront of contemporary American composition. It is unfortunate their works don’t create maximum effect. Composer control over the narrative makes better opera.