Works & Process will present a preview of the Metropolitan Opera’s upcoming Lincoln in the Bardo, bringing together the creators and members of the production team for a discussion and live performance highlights in New York City.
The program, scheduled for Oct. 5, 2026, at 7 p.m., will take place at the Peter B. Lewis Theater at 1071 Fifth Avenue. Tickets for the event start at $15.
The presentation comes ahead of the world premiere of the new opera by composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek, offering audiences an early look at how the creative team is adapting George Saunders’s Booker Prize-winning novel for the Metropolitan Opera stage.
Metropolitan Opera Offers Early Look at New Production
Metropolitan Opera General Manager Peter Gelb will moderate a discussion featuring Mazzoli and Vavrek, focusing on the process of transforming Saunders’s novel into an operatic production.
The discussion will also include members of the production’s creative team, providing insight into the artistic and theatrical decisions involved in translating the book’s supernatural setting and unconventional narrative to the stage.
Artists from the production’s cast are expected to perform selections from Mazzoli’s score during the Works & Process program. The combination of discussion and performance is designed to give attendees a closer look at the development of the production before its official premiere.
The opera is based on Saunders’s acclaimed novel Lincoln in the Bardo. The story centers on Willie Lincoln, the 11-year-old son of President Abraham Lincoln, who died in 1862. The narrative follows Willie as he inhabits the “bardo,” a transitional state between life and what comes afterward.
The adaptation places a well-known episode of American presidential history within a supernatural framework, presenting the creative team with the challenge of translating the novel’s distinctive structure and atmosphere into music and live theater.
Works & Process Connects Audiences With Creative Development
The October event reflects the broader role of Works & Process in presenting audiences with behind-the-scenes access to major performing arts projects. Rather than focusing solely on completed productions, its programming often explores how artists develop new work and bring projects from concept to the stage.
For the Metropolitan Opera, the event provides an opportunity to introduce Lincoln in the Bardo to audiences through both conversation and excerpts from the production before its world premiere.
The presentation also highlights the collaboration involved in developing a large-scale opera, bringing together composers, librettists, performers, production professionals and institutional leadership.
Public and Private Funding Supports Works & Process
Works & Process receives financial support from a combination of foundations, individual donors and public agencies.
Lead funding is provided by AG Foundation, Stuart H. Coleman and Meryl Rosofsky, Adam and Abigail Flatto, Christian Humann Foundation, Leon Levy Foundation, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Tino and Rajika Puri, Stephen Kroll Reidy, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Denise and Andrew Saul, The Evelyn Sharp Foundation and The SHS Foundation.
Additional supporters include Jody and John Arnhold, Jeff and Susan Campbell, Cate Caruso, Paul Cronson, Lucy and Philip Dobrin, Elizabeth Sharp Edens and Wes Edens, The Fanwood Foundation, Bart Friedman and Wendy Stein, Nina Matis, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, Leon Polsky, Caroline M. Sharp, Randall Sharp, The Shubert Foundation, and Eugene and Jean Stark.
Works & Process also receives public funding through the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and through the New York State Council on the Arts, with support from the governor’s office and the New York State Legislature.
The October presentation will give New York audiences an early opportunity to experience the music and creative approach behind Lincoln in the Bardo, while offering a closer view of the collaboration involved in bringing a major literary adaptation to the Metropolitan Opera stage.
