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Saint-Saëns’s biblical epic Samson et Dalila stars Elīna Garanča and Roberto Alagna in the title roles; the pair was last seen together by HD audiences in the acclaimed 2010 transmission of Bizet’s Carmen. Laurent Naouri co-stars as the High Priest, with Elchin Azizov as the Philistine King Abimélech and Dmitry Belosselskiy as the Old Hebrew. Darko Tresnjak, the Tony Award–winning director of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, makes his Met debut directing the first new Met production of the opera in 20 years. Sir Mark Elder conducts.

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 Davila eventually conquered the operatic world and has proven itself a magnificent evening of theater.