The Metropolitan Opera: Champion (2023)

Music

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. 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.

Cast

Emile Griffith
Emelda Griffith
Lucia Paret
Mano Alfano
Sadie Donastorg Griffith
Young Emile Griffith
Benny "Kid" Paret / Benny Paret, jr.
Howie Albert
Ring Announcer
Kathy Hagen
Cousin Blanche
Little Emile

Crew

Set Designer
Costume Designer
Lighting Design
Production Designer
Choreographer