At 28, soprano Julie Roset makes her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York this November 2025. She agreed to share her rehearsal diary, filled with very personal reflections, with Total Baroque Magazine. Discover the third and final episode of her chronicle: opening night! 
By Julie Roset
From the beginning of October until the opening night of Richard Strauss’s Arabella on November 10, Julie Roset kept a New York diary for Total Baroque Magazine. Named “lyrical revelation” at the Victoires de la musique classique in France in 2025, winner of Plácido Domingo’s major Operalia competition in 2023, Roset has established herself through her collaborations—particularly in the Baroque repertoire—with leading conductors and stage directors at the Paris Opera, the Aix-en-Provence Festival, and the Teatro Real in Madrid. At 28, she makes her Strauss debut at the Met in New York, after winning the Laffont Competition there in 2022, following her studies and Artist Diploma at the famous Juilliard School. Discover the final episode of this American adventure, from the dress rehearsal to opening night!
Friday, November 7 – The dress rehearsal, at last
At the Met, there are no mandatory “calls” for makeup or hair: you coordinate directly with the teams. I arrive an hour and a half before my entrance (Act II at noon): stretching, hair, makeup, warm-up, getting dressed. The public is settling in; Laurence [Kilsby] is in the hall, and knowing that a friend is listening changes everything! For me, this already feels like an opening night. We check everything calmly: the voice, the dress, the gesture—and above all, the meaning.
After my Act II appearance, I stay backstage to listen to Act III.I had never seen it, so I slip in behind the stage manager, I observe, I listen. The music is sublime; the singers are fabulous. I’m proud to be part of this adventure.
We finish the performance at 2:30 p.m., but stay for notes at 3 p.m. With Louise Alder, Rachel Willis-Sørensen, and Karen Cargill, we share a lunch-snack at Old John’s Luncheonette to refuel and go over the run before heading home. I collapse on the sofa and don’t move for the rest of the evening, completely exhausted.
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