Carnegie Hall

The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra is regarded as one of the world’s finest orchestras. Since the Met’s inception in 1883, it has worked with leading conductors in both opera and concert performances, and has developed into an orchestra of enormous technical polish and style. The musicians maintain a demanding schedule of performances and rehearsals during the 33-week Lincoln Center season, with as many as seven performances per week in repertory that this season encompasses 18 operas. In addition to its opera schedule, the orchestra has a distinguished history of concert performances, including an annual series at Carnegie Hall.

The history of the Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble goes back to 1998, when then–Music Director James Levine organized the group’s first performance at Carnegie Hall in an effort to showcase the artistry and virtuosity of the orchestra members, and to create an opportunity for the musicians to perform more intimate repertoire. The chamber ensemble gave performances until 2016, when the concerts were discontinued.

In 2021, the group returned in a new initiative of the Met, with an artistic committee of orchestra members planning its repertoire in collaboration with Met administration and music staff. All orchestra members have the opportunity to participate in the series, and the programs often feature guest singers from the Met’s roster. This season, the chamber ensemble presents six performances in Weill Recital Hall.

Visit metorchestramusicians.org to read bios for individual orchestra members.

Since making her 2007 debut as Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette, New York–born mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard has remained one of the Met’s most treasured artists. She was the 2011 recipient of the Beverly Sills Artist Award, established by Agnes Varis and Karl Leichtman, and has appeared with the company in more than 150 performances, including as the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos, Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, the title roles of Cinderella and Nico Muhly’s Marnie, Blanche de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites, Mélisande in Pelléas et Mélisande, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Charlotte in Werther, Rosina in The Barber of Seville and Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Dorabella in Così fan tutte, and Miranda in Thomas Adès’s The Tempest. She has also appeared in seven of the company’s Live in HD cinema transmissions.

During the 2023–2024 season, she appears as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia at LA Opera; the title role in Songbird, an adaptation of Offenbach’s La Périchole, at Washington National Opera; Maria in The Sound of Music at Houston Grand Opera; and the title role of La Cenerentola at the Bavarian State Opera.

A three-time Grammy Award winner (of five nominations) and recipient of the 2013 Richard Tucker Award, she has also appeared at La Scala, Dutch National Opera, Covent Garden, the Vienna State Opera, the Canadian Opera Company, the Paris Opera, the Salzburg Festival, the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, the Glyndebourne Festival, Opera Philadelphia, and Lyric Opera of Chicago. She starred as Ada Monroe in the world premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain at the Santa Fe Opera in 2015. On the concert stage, she has performed alongside The Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, and San Francisco Symphony, among others. She currently serves as an Artist Trustee on Carnegie Hall’s Board of Trustees.

Quamaine “Virtuoso” Daniy’Els is a Brooklyn-based master of FlexN, with styles that include gliding, get glow, bone breaking, and connecting. He began FlexN in 2004 after seeing a dance battle in his school lunchroom and has danced professionally since 2015. He has performed around the world, including in Australia, Italy, France, and New Zealand, among others, and toured with the D.R.E.A.M. Ring. He has also been a part of productions including FLEXN: Evolution, Alphabus, and Maze. He is a teaching artist with the Shed’s FlexNYC program and is currently working on paintings that fuse FlexN and his unique drawing style.