Metropolitan Opera: Antony and Cleopatra

Published May 24, 2025 at 6:00 AM EDT

Gerald Finley as Antony and Julia Bullock as Cleopatra in John Adams's "Antony and Cleopatra." (Photo: Karen Almond / Met Opera)

On Saturday at 1 p.m., hear the Metropolitan Opera's broadcast of "Antony and Cleopatra" by John Adams.

The most recent opera by John Adams receives its Met premiere. Julia Bullock stars as Cleopatra, one of theater’s most complex and captivating characters, opposite bass-baritone Gerald Finley as the conflicted Antony.

Composer and conductor John Adams leads a new staging by director Elkhanah Pulitzer that transports the story from ancient Rome to the Golden Age of Hollywood in the 1930s.

From the Met: "The legendary love affair between Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt, and Mark Antony, the Roman general and leader, has fascinated the world for millennia.

"Shakespeare’s play about the couple formed the basis for John Adams’s opera. The fast-moving score captures the grandeur and high stakes of the clash of empires — not to mention the incandescent romance of two great lovers."

Read the synopsis from the Metropolitan Opera.