Wagner's soaring masterpiece makes its triumphant return to the Met stage after 17 years. In a sequel to his revelatory production of Parsifal, director Franc¸ois Girard unveils an atmospheric staging that once again weds his striking visual style and keen dramatic insight to Wagner's breathtaking music, with Music Director Yannick Ne´zet-Se´guin on the podium to conduct a supreme cast led by tenor Piotr Beczala in the title role of the mysterious swan knight. Soprano Tamara Wilson is the virtuous duchess Elsa, falsely accused of murder, going head to head with soprano Christine Goerke as the cunning sorceress Ortrud, who seeks to lay her low. Bass-baritone Evgeny Nikitin is Ortrud's power-hungry husband, Telramund, and bass Gu¨nther Groissbo¨ck is King Heinrich.