Der Rosenkavalier

Highly recommended: The season's last production of Der Rosenkavalier at the Met on Friday, Jan. 15 at 7:30 p.m. Renee Fleming is spectacular. The opera premiered in 1911 and is a masterpiece of ravishing late-romantic music. The plot, set in 18th-century Vienna, pokes fun at snobbery, celebrates youthful love and gives voice to the noble sadness of growing old. Note: The show has two intermissions and lasts four and a half hours.