One of the most prolific and respected musical theatre composers in the United States, Jeanine Tesori makes her Metropolitan debut. "The Tony Award-winning composer of five hugely successful Broadway musicals (and many other works) has written Grounded (based on George Brant's 2012 play of the same name) for the Metropolitan Opera. Grounded, about a fighter pilot, premiered in October 2023 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and will open the Metropolitan's new season, which begins on 23 September. But her superiors don't want to lose her talent, so they transfer her to the drone unit. Now, from the comfort of her armchair in Las Vegas, Jessie controls a deadly Reaper drone hovering over Afghanistan. This contemporary opera raises very difficult questions about the ways, means, technology, ethics and inhuman psychological pressures of 21st century warfare, which, at the touch of a button, can irrevocably change the fate of people on the other side of the world.