Camille Saint-Saëns

Samson et Dalila

Nov 27 – Dec 23

Tickets from $33.00 |

Price includes $10.00 fee

Sacred, scandalous, and irresistibly alluring, Saint-Saëns’s spectacular take on the biblical hero of legendary strength and the seductive Philistine whose beauty overpowers him returns in the Met’s larger-than-life production. Featuring a massive orchestra and chorus and some of opera’s most spellbinding tunes, this masterpiece of French grand opera is a feast for the eyes and ears, with an electrifying cast led by the formidable star pairing of mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina and tenor Clay Hilley, who makes a notable company debut.

Please note that video cameras will be in operation during the December 1 and 5 performances, as part of The Met: Live in HD series of cinema transmissions.

Production a gift of the Gramma Fisher Foundation, Marshalltown, Iowa; and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang, PhD. and Oscar Tang

Additional funding from The Walter and Leonore Annenberg Endowment Fund and William R. Miller

Revival a gift of C. Graham Berwind, III

Sung In

French

Met Titles In

  • English
  • German
  • Spanish
  • French

Estimated Run Time

3 hrs 35 mins

House Opens

Act I

50 mins

Intermission

40 mins

Act II

45 mins

Intermission

40 mins

Acts III

40 mins

Opera Ends

Cast

Giacomo Sagripanti

Conductor

Giacomo Sagripanti

Performing

All Dates
Aigul Akhmetshina

Dalila

Aigul Akhmetshina

Performing

All Dates
Clay Hilley

Samson

Clay Hilley

Performing

All Dates
Quinn Kelsey

High Priest of Dagon

Quinn Kelsey

Performing

All Dates
Alfred Walker

Abimélech

Alfred Walker

Performing

Nov 27

Dec 1, 5, 8, 12, 18, 23
Thomas Hall

Abimélech

Thomas Hall

Performing

Dec 15
Morris Robinson

Old Hebrew

Morris Robinson

Performing

All Dates

World premiere: Grand Ducal Theater, Weimar, 1877. The source of this popular opera is a single chapter in the biblical Book of Judges, and the brevity of the tale did nothing to prevent it from becoming one of the world’s great stories of love (or at least passion)—as well as the archetypal depiction of a man betrayed by an immoral woman. Saint-Saëns’s opera, along with other artistic renderings across multiple genres, has had an important role in the popularization of this tale. Despite tepid success early on, Samson et Dalila eventually conquered the operatic world and has proven itself a magnificent evening of theater.  

Creators

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921) was a leading figure of the French musical world throughout his life, successful as an organist, pianist, conductor, and prominent music commentator in addition to his work as a composer. Ferdinand Lemaire (1832–79), a poet who married a cousin of Saint-Saëns’s and who made his most lasting impression with this work, contributed the libretto.

  • composer

    Camille Saint-Saëns

Production

Darko Tresnjak

SET DESIGNER

Alexander Dodge

COSTUME DESIGNER

Linda Cho

LIGHTING DESIGNER

Donald Holder

CHOREOGRAPHER

Austin McCormick

C. Graham Berwind, III Chorus Director

Tilman Michael

Setting

The opera, like the biblical tale, takes place in the city of Gaza, a capital of ancient Philistia, and in the Valley of Sorek, in the foothill country toward Jerusalem. The time is around 1150 B.C.E.

Music

The score of this opera teems with color and dramatic aptitude and is a worthy compendium of Saint-Saëns’s diversified genius. Portions of the opera, including Dalila’s seduction aria “Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix” and the extraordinary ballet sequence in the final scene—the Bacchanale—are known well beyond the opera house. Throughout the work, the score brilliantly animates all the powerful and diverse colors in the iconic story, from the lurid to the exotic, the crass, the sensual, and even the sublimely spiritual.

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