Martina Serafin

Viennese soprano Martina Serafin discusses playing the leading role of the Marschallin in Richard Strauss’s opera, “Der Rosenkavalier,” playing at the Metropolitan Opera. This season’s performances mark the 100th anniversary of the opera’s US premiere. The Marschallin is often described as opera’s first “cougar”—a married older woman whose complicated relationship with her teenage male lover, Octavian, forms the plot of the opera. This is her first time singing the role in New York or at the Met.