Live at the Met: Grounded

Tony Award–winning composer Jeanine Tesori’s powerful new opera Grounded premieres at the Metropolitan Opera, wrestling with often-overlooked issues created by 21st-century war-making: the ethical conflicts created by the use of modern military technology and the psychological and emotional toll supposedly safe remote technology takes on our servicepersons.

Canadian mezzo soprano Emily D’Angelo stars as the hot-shot fighter pilot whose unplanned pregnancy takes her out of the cockpit and lands her in Las Vegas, operating a Reaper drone halfway around the world. American tenor Ben Bliss costars as the Wyoming rancher Eric in a production by Michael Mayer that brings this story to life in a high-tech staging which presents a variety of perspectives on the action.

Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes the podium to conduct Tesori’s kaleidoscopic opera, transmitted live from the Met stage. The most prolific female composer in theater history, Jeanine Tesori has written a diverse catalog for Broadway, opera, film, and television; her most recent musical, Kimberly Akimbo, earned five Tony Awards (of eight nominations), including Best Musical and Best Original Score.

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Part of the Stage on Screen Series, sponsored by Dr. James and Marcia Merrins, Live at the Met is underwritten with support from Daniel S. Kaufman and Timothy W. Beaver