The Metropolitan Opera Spotlights Mexican Culture in New York City to Celebrate the Premiere of Gabriela Lena Frank and Nilo Cruz’s El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego

New York, NY (April 17, 2026)—This May, the Metropolitan Opera presents a citywide celebration of Mexican culture in New York City in support of the highly anticipated company premiere of Gabriela Lena Frank and Nilo Cruz’s opera El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego. The opera’s surreal plot imagines Frida Kahlo returning from the underworld on the Mexican Day of the Dead to confront her unfaithful husband, Diego Rivera, and relive their tumultuous love. Activations and events at local restaurants and in public spaces around the city bring together food, art, performance, and cultural storytelling.

Restaurant Partnerships Citywide
May 1–31

Throughout the month of May, Mexican and Hispanic restaurants across New York City spotlight the Met’s production of El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego with Frida-inspired specialty cocktails and menu items. Additional restaurant information can be found below, as well as online. To learn more, click here.

The Grand Tier Restaurant
El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego performance dates

In conjunction with the Met performances of El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego, The Grand Tier Restaurant, located on-site of the Metropolitan Opera House, will feature Mexican-inspired menu items, in addition to Frida’s Margarita with Del Maguey Mezcal.

MoMA x Met Opera
Through September 12

In conjunction with the Met premiere of El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego, the Museum of Modern Art presents Frida and Diego: The Last Dream, an installation of celebrated works by Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, organized by MoMA’s Beverly Adams in collaboration with Jon Bausor, the opera’s set and co-costume designer. This first-of-its-kind collaboration explores the artists’ lives and works in an immersive gallery space inspired by the production’s design. For further information, click here. 

Artist Talk
May 5

On May 5, the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Hispanic Society Museum & Library, in partnership with the Metropolitan Opera, host composer Gabriela Lena Frank and librettist Nilo Cruz to discuss the process of creating contemporary opera together and the journey from concept to opening night. The evening will be followed by a reception at the Hispanic Society.  For more information, click here.

Death of Classical
May 8 (Rain date: May 9)

On May 8, Death of Classical and the Green-Wood Cemetery, in partnership with the Metropolitan Opera, present Frida, Diego, and the Day of the Dead, a large-scale outdoor performance event at the Cemetery inspired by El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego. Marking Death of Classical’s first collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera, the program features cast members Isabel Leonard, Carlos Álvarez, Gabriella Reyes, and Nils Wanderer performing musical excerpts alongside poetry, performance, and conversation exploring the world of this new opera and its themes of love, grief, legacy, and sacrifice. The event will take place outdoors near the Green-Wood Cemetery’s Gothic Arch entrance. For ticket information, click here. 

Cosme x Met Opera
May 11

On May 11, the Met presents a curated dining experience in partnership with Cosme, a Mexican Michelin Guide restaurant. The four-course culinary experience is inspired by Frida’s native neighborhood in Mexico City, Coyoacán. The evening features a mid-meal performance by Grammy Award–winning mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard, who sings the role of Frida in the Met’s production.  The evening brings together tastemakers, friends of the Met, writers, creatives, and cast members to celebrate the premiere of El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego. For ticket information, click here.

A Performance and Conversation on Frida and Diego: The Last Dream
May 12

MoMA presents a special performance and conversation in conjunction with the MoMA installation Frida and Diego: The Last Dream and the Metropolitan Opera production El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego. Singers Isabel Leonard, Carlos Álvarez, Gabriela Reyes, and Nils Wanderer will perform music from the opera, followed by a discussion between composer Gabriela Lena Frank and librettist Nilo Cruz, moderated by musician, organizer, and educator Jocelyn de Freitas. For ticket information, click here.

About the Opera

Grammy Award–winning composer Gabriela Lena Frank’s first opera, El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego, with libretto by Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Nilo Cruz, has its Met premiere in a new production directed by Deborah Colker and conducted by the Met’s Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, on May 14. Frank and Cruz make their Met debuts. Six additional performances continue through June 5, and the production also concludes the 2025–26 season of The Met: Live in HD, with a worldwide cinema transmission on May 30.

The opera’s surreal plot imagines Frida Kahlo returning from the underworld on the Mexican Day of the Dead to confront her unfaithful husband, Diego Rivera, and relive their tumultuous love. The opera is sung in Spanish.

More Information on Restaurant Partnerships

  • Manhattan
    • El Fish Marisquería
      • Met Frida Margarita, a signature cocktail with Cazadores blanco, fresh watermelon, passion fruit cordial, mint, and lemon
      • Taco Diego, a crab cake taco with trout roe-achiote mayo and habanero red onions
      • Frida Halibut, a steamed halibut dish wrapped in hoja santa, served with three moles (coloradito, rosado, and oaxaqueño), and sweet plantain crunch
    • Covacha
      • Casa Azul, a signature cocktail with tequila reposado, corn liqueur, citrus, and agave. A bright, layered cocktail that balances warmth and freshness, inspired by the richness of Mexican ingredients and the vibrant spirit of Frida & Diego
      • Mole Amarillo with Squash Blossom and Shrimp, squash blossom filled with shrimp, leeks, aromatic herbs, and green oil
        • The recipe inspiration comes from the cookbook Las Fiestas de Frida y Diego: Memories, Recipes and Photographs by Guadalupe Rivera Marín (daughter of Diego Rivera)
      • El Mitote
        • Paloma, a cocktail with Yola Mezcal, a women-owned mezcal brand
      • Ella Social
        • FRIDA, a cocktail with Curamia Tequila, a women-owned tequila brand
      • Brooklyn
        • Oxomoco
          • Viva La Vida, a signature cocktail with tequila—Frida’s favorite spirit—elderflower, lemon, hibiscus, and prickly pear puree; dragon fruit serves as a nod to her favorite fruit, and watermelon to echo the imagery in her work; finished with a cempasúchil flower garnish, representing her favorite flower; inspired by Frida’s final painting
        • Alta Calidad
          • La Tehuana, a signature cocktail with blanco tequila, cucumber, aloe, lime, agave; a nod to the iconic dresses worn by Frida Kahlo
        • The Bronx
          • Tobalá
            • Viva La Vida, a signature cocktail made with woman-owned tequila brand Mijenta; watermelon-hibiscus cordial, lime, rose, sea salt; inspired by Frida Kahlo’s final still-life painting of watermelons
            • Aguachile de Mercado, fluke, watermelon and salsa borracha broth, mezcal, lime, pickled watermelon rind, herbs, chile oil
              • Note: All elements are designed to reflect the visual language of the artists while honoring Mexican ingredients and culinary traditions
            • Taqueria Tlaxcalli
              • El Elefante, a Diego Rivera nickname; a red wine sangria fruit bellini blended into a slushy and mixed with prosecco; served with apples, grapes, and a sugar rim
              • Pinto Mangos Para un Mangollini, a mango bellini with a chamoy and tajin rim
              • El Trio de Coyoacán
                • Traditional gordita with dough made of chile guajillo and filled with chorizo and potato and topped with queso fresco
                • Sope with masa that is mixed with potato and topped with a chile pasilla salsa queso fresco, onions, and cilantro
                • Tlacoyo dough mixed with nopal and epazote, filled with pinto beans and topped with salsa verde, queso fresco, onions, and cilantro
              • Queens
                • Fresco’s Grand Cantina
                  • El Tamal de Frida Margarita, a hibiscus Flor de Jamaica cocktail on the rocks with a Tajin rim

 

 

For More Information

For further details on NYCDMX, please click here. For more information about El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego, including casting by date, please click here.