Opening December 27, the great baritone Peter Mattei will play Wozzeck for the first time in his career, and soprano Elza van den Heever will sing Marie.

Met artistic director Yannick Nézet-Séguin will be in the pit for a new production of Wozzeck, an opera that previous artistic director James Levine had made one of the high points of his tenure. Karen Kamensek, also making her Met debut, conducts. The production, which runs from November 8 to December 7, also integrates the Gandini Juggling Company with the score and stage action. Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo has been highly praised as the revolutionary Egyptian pharaoh, and J’Nai Bridges will make her Met debut as Nefertiti.

McDermott has already brought Glass’s Satyagraha to the Met, and this production was created for the ENO with LA Opera and Improbable. The performances of Akhnaten will be a Met premiere, and Phelim McDermott’s staging has already won the 2017 Olivier Award for best new opera production after its debut with the English National Opera. The deep cast will also include Denyce Graves, Ryan Speedo Green, and Golda Schulz, and will run in two segments the premiere performances closing October 16, and a run in January/February 2020 that will have Kevin Short and Elizabeth Llewellyn (in her Met debut) in the leads. This staging made a strong impression in its English premiere earlier this season, and will star bass-baritone Eric Owens as Porgy and soprano Angel Blue as Bess. The Gershwins’ opera has not graced the Met stage for nearly 30 years, and this return will be produced and directed by James Robinson (making his house debut) in collaboration with the Dutch National Opera and the English National Opera. Porgy and Bess will open the season on September 23, conducted by David Robertson.

The Metropolitan Opera’s 2019-2020 season, announced Wednesday, will feature two of the most important American operas of the 20th century, with new productions of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and Philip Glass’s Akhnaten. Photo: Todd Rosenberg/ Lyric Opera of Chicago Eric Owens (pictured with Adina Aaron) will star in Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess,” which will open the Metropolitan Opera’s 2019-2020 season on September 23.

Wozzeck lyric opera chicago