Champion

Six-time Grammy Award–winning composer Terence Blanchard brings his first opera to the Met after his Fire Shut Up in My Bones triumphantly premiered with the company to universal acclaim in 2021–22. Bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green is the young boxer Emile Griffith, who rises from obscurity to become a world champion, and bass-baritone Eric Owens portrays Griffith’s older self, haunted by the ghosts of his past. Soprano Latonia Moore is Emelda Griffith, the boxer’s estranged mother, and mezzo- soprano Stephanie Blythe is the bar owner Kathy Hagan. Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes the podium for Blanchard’s second Met premiere, also reuniting the director-and-choreographer team of James Robinson and Camille A. Brown.

Praise for Champion includes:

• • “THE THRILL AND AGONY OF VICTORY” —The New York Times

  • “A VISCERAL, jazz-influenced work about the closeted bisexual boxer Emile Griffith, who killed his opponent in a 1962 fight … A PROPULSIVE AND PERCUSSIVE score … The fatal fight itself was staged with HEART-STOPPING VERVE … Ryan Speedo Green and Eric Owens, in SPLENDID VOICE, made a powerful team … The capacity opening-night crowd seemed unusually young, diverse and enthusiastic.” —The Wall Street Journal

  • “TRULY MOVING … The music flows with colorful, unmannered delicacy, the vocal lines are GRACEFUL AND EXPRESSIVE … Eric Owens sang with his typical WARMTH AND HUMANITY and Ryan Speedo Green was intensely real … Green’s voice is ALWAYS IMPECCABLE and he brings a naturalness to every role … James Robinson’s production and Camille A. Brown’s choreography made every scene meaningful … A VOCAL, ENTHUSIASTIC AUDIENCE … ★★★★” —Financial Times

  • “BLANCHARD HAS DONE IT AGAIN … Even if you don’t fancy yourself as an opera lover or aficionado, his latest opera is a MUST SEE … Blanchard and his trumpet have provided the SOUNDTRACK TO OUR LIVES.” —Amsterdam News

  • “A WINNING NIGHT at the Metropolitan Opera” —Town and Country

  • “Terence Blanchard is MAKING HISTORY at the Metropolitan Opera … again.” —NPR

  • “CHAMPION KICKS UP PLENTY OF GLORY … BLANCHARD IS A MASTER AT MATCHING COLOR AND PACE … Yannick Nézet-Séguin steers the orchestra and chorus through all the many shifts from darkness to DAZZLE, SHIMMY, AND GRIND … The Met has thrown Champion a ROUSING PARTY.” —New York Magazine

Tickets:

• $15 – General Admission
• $10 – AcA Members