Isabel Leonard as Frida and Carlos Álvarez as Diego in Gabriela Lena Frank’s El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego Photo: Marty Sohl / Met Opera
Gabriela Lena Frank makes her Metropolitan Opera debut with El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego at the Met’s Live in HD season on May 30th – the last in the current season. This Met-premiere production which will be screened at over 1900 cinemas worldwide, stars mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard as Frida Kahlo and baritone Carlos Álvarez as Diego Rivera. Soprano Gabriella Reyes is Catrina, mistress of the underworld, and countertenor Nils Wanderer, in his Met debut, is the artist Leonardo. The conductor is the Met’s Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, libretto is by Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Nilo Cruz and direction and choreography is by Deborah Colker.
Frank’s opera, a “confident, richly imagined score” according to The New Yorker, and one that “bursts with color and fresh individuality” says the Los Angeles Times, takes its inspiration from Frida and Diego’s colorful paintings. The action of El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego takes place on El Día de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) in the year 1957 – three years after Frida Kahlo’s death. Despite their stormy relationship, the muralist Diego Rivera, who is ailing and lonely, has one last wish – to see Frida once more, to gain her forgiveness. She does indeed return to earth, even though she is loath to go back to a world where she experienced such pain. The pair enjoy one last opportunity to reunite and reconcile. El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego was premiered by San Diego Opera in October 2022.
A scene from Gabriela Lena Frank’s El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego Photo: Marty Sohl / Met Opera
El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego is Gabriela Lena Frank’s first opera, although the music of this Latin Grammy Award-winning composer is regularly featured on the programs of leading orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony and Philadelphia Orchestra. She is Composer in Residence of the Philadelphia Orchestra, has written new works for cellist Yo-Yo Ma, soprano Dawn Upshaw and conductors Marin Alsop and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and is founder of the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music for emerging music-makers in Northern California. In May 2026, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music for the ten-movement symphonic piece Picaflor: A Future Myth.
Cuban-American playwright Nilo Cruz is well known for his stage works – which include his 2003 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Anna in the Tropics, for which he also received a Tony nomination. A frequent collaborator with composers such as Gabriela Lena Frank and Jimmy Lopez, his works are performed across the US and internationally.
Isabel Leonard as Frida and Carlos Álvarez as Diego in Gabriela Lena Frank’s El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego Photo: Marty Sohl / Met Opera
The opera stars three-time Grammy Award–winning American mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard as Frida Kahlo, praised by the New York Classical Review as “so compelling that she is effortlessly seductive”. During this current season, she will make her house debut at Teatro Real in Madrid as Rosina in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, makes her role debut as Julie in Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s Show Boat with Houston Grand Opera, and is featured as one of the star soloists in the Metropolitan Opera’s Diamond Jubilee Gala — 60 Years at Lincoln Center — featuring fully staged performances from more than thirty operas.
Isabel Leonard as Frida and Carlos Álvarez as Diego in Gabriela Lena Frank’s El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego Photo: Marty Sohl / Met Opera
Spanish baritone Carlos Álvarez takes the role of Diego Rivera. His recent highlights include the roles of Escamiilo in Bizet’s Carmen at Wiener Staatsoper, the title role in Verdi’s Otello at Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, Germont in Verdi’s La Traviata at Teatro di San Carlo, the title role in Verdi’s Rigoletto at Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège, Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and Amonasro in Verdi’s Aïda at Teatro Real in Madrid.
Gabriella Reyes as Catrina in a scene from Gabriela Lena Frank’s El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego Photo: Marty Sohl / Met Opera
The cast also features Nicaraguan-American soprano Gabriella Reyes as Catrina, who has a voice described by the New York Times as “radiant”, and was an honouree of the Sphinx Organization’s 2025 Medal of Excellence. Her recent and current engagements include making house and role debuts at Los Angeles Opera as Maria in Bernstein’s West Side Story and at Opera North as Contessa in a new production of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro. She also makes a return to the Lyric Opera of Chicago to reprise the role of Nedda in Leoncavalla’s Pagliacci and made her house debut as Mimì in Puccini’s La bohème at the Bayerische Staatsoper.
Isabel Leonard as Frida and Nils Wanderer as Leonardo in a scene from Gabriela Lena Frank’s El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego Photo: Marty Sohl / Met Opera
In his Met debut, German countertenor Nils Wanderer is the artist Leonardo. Described by Diapason as “a countertenor with perfectly unified registers and a supernatural ease of phrasing”, recent roles include those of Oberon in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival, and he appeared as Tolomeo in Händel’s Julius Caesar in Egitto at Opéra national du Capitole de Toulouse.
The creative team includes set and co-costume designer Jon Bausor, co-costume designer Wilberth Gonzalez in his Met debut, and lighting designer Adam Silverman.
Gary Halvorson will direct the Live in HD presentation for cinemas, and Angel Blue will host the transmission, sharing exclusive behind-the-scenes content and interviews during intermission.
Isabel Leonard as Frida and Carlos Álvarez as Diego in Gabriela Lena Frank’s El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego Photo: Marty Sohl / Met Opera
The opera is sung in Spanish with Met titles in English, Spanish and German.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus (Chorus Director
Tilman Michael) in a The Met: Live in HD performance of El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego which
will be screened by over 1900 cinemas worldwide on May 30th. For further information on the production and to find your nearest cinema, visit the Metropolitan Opera website. [metopera.org]
The 2026–27 Live in HD season, marking the 20th anniversary of the series, launches on September 19, 2026, with Twenty Years of the Met in Cinemas: An Anniversary Celebration, a special presentation featuring highlights from the company’s collection of more than 185 extraordinary onscreen performances. For the full season schedule, visit metopera.org/hd.
Information sourced from:
Metropolitan Opera program notes
Artists’ websites
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