Death of Classical to present Frida, Diego, and Day of the Dead in collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera, and The Green-Wood Cemetery, May 8

The immersive outdoor celebration at The Green-Wood Cemetery is inspired by El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego, the new opera by Gabriela Lena Frank and Nilo Cruz, opening at the Metropolitan Opera this May

The program blends live musical excerpts performed by artists from the opera with poetry, storytelling, conversation, and more

The event will take place outdoors near The Green-Wood Cemetery’s Gothic Arch entrance, with a range of seating options, spirits tastings, and food for purchase

Death of Classical and The Green-Wood Cemetery, in collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera, present Frida, Diego, and the Day of the Dead on May 8, 2026 from 7:00–9:00 PM, a large-scale outdoor performance event inspired by the highly anticipated new production of El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego, composed by Gabriela Lena Frank with a libretto by Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Nilo Cruz, which opens at the Metropolitan Opera on May 14.

Marking Death of Classical’s first collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera, the program features artists from the production performing musical excerpts alongside poetry, performance, and conversation exploring the world of this new opera and its themes of love, grief, legacy, and sacrifice. Drawing on the traditions of Día de los Muertos and the imagined reunion of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, the evening offers a rare opportunity for audiences to engage with a major new work not just as a spectator, but as a participant.

The event will take place outdoors near The Green-Wood Cemetery’s Gothic Arch entrance, with a range of seating options including premium reserved tables and general admission seating in chairs or on the grass. A pre-show experience beginning at 7:00 PM will include spirits tastings (21 ), non-alcoholic offerings, immersive activations, and food available for purchase. The performance begins at 8:00 PM. In the event of rain, the performance will be pushed back to May 9. Additional ticket information can be found on Death of Classical website.

The opera itself envisions a Día de los Muertos reunion between Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, using that encounter to explore the enduring pull of love, memory, and artistic identity. Sung in Spanish and shaped by Mexican cultural traditions, it balances richly textured orchestration with moments of haunting beauty to document how personal and creative legacies continue to resonate beyond a single lifetime.

Listing Info

Frida, Diego, and the Day of the Dead
May 8, 2026 (Rain Date May 9, 2026)
7:00PM - 9:00 PM

Death of Classical and The Green-Wood Cemetery are proud to partner with the Metropolitan Opera in a celebration of El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego–the evocative new opera by composer Gabriela Lena Frank, with a libretto by Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz, opening at the Met on May 14, 2026.

A magical-realist portrait of Mexico’s most iconic artistic couple, El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego imagines a reunion between Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera on Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), weaving dreams, memory, love, and art into a mythic journey that transcends life and loss.  Sung in Spanish and grounded in Mexican cultural traditions, the opera weaves together lush orchestration and moments of haunting beauty.

On May 8, Green-Wood—long a place of remembrance and reflection—hosts an outdoor program inspired by El Último Sueño. The event features stars from the opera performing musical excerpts alongside poetry, performance, and conversation exploring the world of this new opera and its themes of love, grief, legacy, and sacrifice.

More than a performance, Frida, Diego, and the Day of the Dead will offer a communal reflection on love, grief, legacy and sacrifice, and an exploration of the cultural stories that bind Frida and Diego’s journey to our own collective imagination.

This large-scale outdoor event will take place near the Gothic Arch entrance of Green-Wood Cemetery, with seating options including premium seating at reserved tables, as well as general admission seating in chairs and on the grass. The pre-show experience will include tastings of spirits and non-alcoholic libations, immersive performances, and food for purchase.

Relevant Links

Tickets & More Info
Death of Classical Website
The Green-Wood Cemetery Website
The Metropolitan Opera Website

About Death of Classical

We at Death of Classical understand that what we do might seem a bit weird at first glance... presenting classical music and opera concerts in Crypts, Catacombs, Cemeteries, and other unusual venues, pairing them with food, drink, and spirits tastings. But we promise that our mission is pure: to breathe new life into the art form that we love, and to re-envision everything from programming to production to promotion, in order to create deeply-personal performances that change how people perceive and experience classical music.

In the few short years since Death of Classical was founded by Artistic Director Andrew Ousley, the response and acclaim has been unanimous, with The New York Times proclaiming that "Classical is alive and well and living in a Crypt, with a series of intimate, charmingly creepy concerts that offer tightly focused programs from top-flight musicians." Our concerts – most of which sell out in moments – have been hailed as "transcendent" (Billboard), "emotionally-charged" (Forbes), "numinous and genre-bending" (New Yorker), with New York Magazine praising them as “sensitively programmed events in which music and architecture almost meld," and the culture editor of Vogue simply describing a DoC show as "one of the most riveting and unusual chamber music performances of my lifetime."

Death of Classical has presented some of today's most acclaimed artists, including the New York Philharmonic, Lawrence Brownlee, Laurie Anderson, Caroline Shaw, Jennifer Koh, Rufus Wainwright, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Simone Dinnerstein, Gil Shaham, Alexandre Tharaud, Lara St. John, Conrad Tao, and many more. We've partnered with institutions ranging from Carnegie Hall to the United Nations, and our accolades include making The New York Times "Best Classical Music Concerts of the Year" list, receiving a Classical:Next Innovation Award, The American Prize for the Arts, and WQXR's 'Excellence in Opera' award for the world premiere of David Hertzberg's The Rose Elf in the Catacombs.

About The Green-Wood Cemetery

Established in 1838, The Green-Wood Cemetery, a National Historic Landmark, is recognized as one of the world’s most beautiful cemeteries. As the permanent residence of over 580,000 individuals, Green-Wood’s magnificent grounds, grand architecture, and world-class statuary have made it a destination for half a million visitors annually, including national and international tourists, New Yorkers, and Brooklynites. At the same time, Green-Wood is also an outdoor museum, an arboretum, and a repository of history. Throughout the year, it offers innovative programs in arts and culture, nature and the environment, education, workforce development, restoration, and research, as well as bold initiatives in climate resiliency and sustainability. For more information, please visit www.green-wood.com.

 About  The Metropolitan Opera

Under the leadership of Peter Gelb, the Maria Manetti Shrem General Manager, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director, the Metropolitan Opera is one of America’s leading performing arts organizations and a vibrant home for the world’s most creative and talented artists, including singers, conductors, composers, orchestra musicians, stage directors, designers, visual artists, choreographers, and dancers. The company presents approximately 200 performances each season of a wide variety of operas, ranging from early masterpieces to contemporary works. The Met has launched many initiatives designed to make opera more accessible, most prominently the Live in HD series of cinema transmissions, which dramatically expands the Met audience by allowing select performances to be seen in more in more than 50 countries around the world.