“Fire Shut Up in My Bones” became the first work by a Black composer in the 138-year history of the Metropolitan Opera as the company presented its first staged performance since March 2000 following a gap caused by the coronavirus.

The Met Opera’s season opens on Monday, and for the first time in its 138-year history it will perform an opera by a Black composer.

Met General Manager Peter Gelb said additional losses projected at $54 million raise the total for the company to $154 million since the pandemic started. “The earliest we thought we could schedule it was in the 23-24 season,” Gelb said. “Hamlet” stars Allan Clayton, Brenda Rae and Rod Gilfry in a Neil Armfield staging that opens May 13, 2022. Bart Sher’s staging of Verdi’s “Rigoletto,” which opened in Berlin in June 2019, starts Dec. 31, 2021, with Quinn Kelsey. A Simon Stone staging of Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor” begins April 23, 2022, with Nadine Sierra and Javier Camarena.

NEW YORK, NY – The Metropolitan Opera will hold a tribute to Jessye Norman on Nov. 24 that celebrates the life and career of the late soprano. Latonia Moore, Eric Owens, Lise Davidsen, J'Nai Bridges and Leah Hawkins are scheduled to perform, the company said Wednesday, along with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, pianist Mark Markham, composer/pianist Damien Sneed, the Met chorus and the Met's "Porgy and Bess" chorus. Speakers will include Anna Deavere Smith, Gloria Steinem and former French Culture Minister Jack Lang. Norman died Sept. 30 at age 74. She was hailed at the Met for her Wagnerian performances as Elisabeth in "Tannhaeuser," Sieglinde in "Die Walkuere" and Kundry in "Parsifal," and for the title role in Strauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos."