Photo: D. Benjamin Miller via Wikimedia Commons
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Lucy Shelton has lived on the Upper West Side since 1968. This week, at 82 years old, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut — and she says it was never even a goal.
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Shelton is performing in Innocence, a modern opera by the late Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho that premiered at the Met this week. She appeared on NY1 to discuss the milestone, calling it “this little sorbet at the end of lots of other nourishing events.”The production — a psychological thriller centered on the trauma of a school shooting — stars acclaimed soprano Joyce DiDonato. But Shelton has been drawing attention of her own. Saariaho, who passed away in 2023 at the age of 70, wrote the role specifically for her. Shelton plays the teacher, a part she has now performed 37 times across multiple productions since the opera’s premiere in 2021.
“The topic, of course, the school shooting — is wrenching and difficult,” Shelton told NY1. “But the music somehow cradles you and allows you to absorb. It’s beautiful, actually — beautiful music and beautiful singing.”
Her style in the opera is distinctive — a kind of spoken singing that sets her apart from the traditional operatic performances around her. The production also features nine languages.
Shelton is a longtime professor at the Manhattan School of Music, where she leads the Contemporary Performance Program. She told NY1 her students came to the dress rehearsal and “hooted and hollered” during the curtain call. Her connection to the neighborhood’s music scene runs deep — NY1 shared a flyer from a solo recital she gave at what is now Merkin Hall on West 68th Street back in 1979, before the venue even had its current name.
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Asked what keeps her passion going after all these years, Shelton said it comes down to the music and the people. “I spend my time either coaching or going to concerts and events where so many former students are involved,” she said. “Watching them grow — it’s thrilling.”And then there’s the purple streak in her hair, which she says came about during a 2022 production in Helsinki when director Simon Stone looked at her white hair and declared, “Lucy needs a purple streak.” She’s kept it ever since — and gotten bolder with it.
Innocence runs at the Met through the end of April. For details, visit metopera.org.
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