Enter a magical world of dancing bears, giant birds, and colorful adventure in Mozart’s ever-popular masterpiece The Magic Flute. This abridged 100-minute version, sung in English, is perfect for opera fans of all ages. Tony® Award winner Julie Taymor (The Lion King) directs a youthful cast conducted by Metropolitan Opera Music Director James Levine. Sung in English.
The sensational Russian soprano Anna Netrebko takes on the role of the fragile Elvira in Bellini’s I Puritani, who goes mad when abandoned at the altar. This has been a supreme role for great singing actresses from Maria Callas to Beverly Sills
Chinese composer Tan Dun’s epic opera features legendary tenor Plácido Domingo as Emperor Qin, who founded an empire that would survive for 2,000 years. Tan Dun’s music is a fascinating mix of East and West, and the monumental production is by revered Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou (Raise the Red Lantern and House of Flying Daggers) with costumes by designer Emi Wada (Kurosawa’s Ran).
Tchaikovsky’s setting of Pushkin’s masterpiece is one of the most romantic and lyrical works ever written for the stage. Valery Gergiev conducts, and Renée Fleming and Dmitri Hvorostovsky star in this moving tale of mistimed love.
One of the most beloved operatic comedies of all time, The Barber of Seville is presented in a production by Tony® Award-winning director Bartlett Sher. Superstar tenor Juan Diego Flórez as Count Almaviva is joined by American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato as Rosina and Peter Mattei in the title role of the swaggering barber.
This spectacular production by Tony® Award-winning theater luminary Jack O’Brien and a team of leading designers showcases the amazing technical resources of the Met stage as well as a brilliant ensemble cast. Created at Puccini’s peak, the operas present the composer most lyrical and dramatic. The Met’s celebrated Music Director James Levine conducts.
Gounod's last opera closely follows Shakespeare's story. Netrebko and Alagna both shine here, Alagna in the role of Romeo which was one of his earliest successes nearly 15 years earlier. Music highights include the 2nd Act 'Balcony scene,' the 4th Act wedding night, Juliet's "Poison Aria" and of couse the scene in the Capulets' tomb. Have extra kleenex on hand for the final moments.
An updated staging of the classic children's fairy tale, re-imagined to a modern, industrialized era. The witch's kitchen is a spic-and-span nightmare, complete with electric appliances, and a gas-range oven with see-through glass doors. One can only hope it is of the self-cleaning variety. Alan Held as Father and Philip Langridge as the witch both stand out here but in the end it lacks charm and the second act just doesn't make much sense.
A coven of witches tells fortunes: Macbeth will be king one day, but his guard, Banquo, will father kings. Lady Macbeth likes this idea, so they move the agenda along by murdering King Duncan, and then, oh-what-the-heck, Banquo too. Macbeth is crowned King, and Lady Macbeth hosts a celebration dinner for him. But when the dead Banquo unexpectedly crashes the party, the trouble starts... Verdi's treatment follows Shakespeare closely, although this production updates it to modern times.
It's "Co-Dependency, the Musical !" and it was Puccini's first big hit. Manon can't decide between love or money, so she tries to keep both, and ends up with neither. When her wealthy and aristocratic benefactor finds her in bed - with younger Chevalier des Grieux - she is arrested and deported to America. Hot-headed and desperate, the Chevalier pursues her. Notable aria in Act 3 sums it all up: "Pazzo son!" (translation: "Look at me, I'm crazy...") No arguments here.
The eccentric fisherman Peter Grimes is a bit of a loner, and he's got problems: for starters, he has trouble keeping his apprentices alive. If they don't slip off the edge of the cliffs nearby, then they disappear under mysterious circumstances, or wash up on shore somehow; something bad always happens to them. In the absence of any OSHA laws, or the Children's Protective Services, the local townspeople convene to conduct an inquest on their own. Mob mentality wins again.
A minimalist staging which puts the focus on the singers and the music. Tenor Robert Dean Smith was brought in at the last minute to fill in for the ailing tenor, and he steals the show. Wagner's opera is one of the most challenging to stage, as there isn't much action; it's an abstract presentation of love, betrayal, jealousy, and death. One of the most famous passages in all of Western music sums it up: the Liebestod (the Love-Death) sung by Isolde in the concluding moments of the opera.
Puccini's perennial favorite, usually so tender and touching, intimate and heartbreaking, is finally brought to you LIVE on the BIG SCREEN in screaming Hi-DEF SuperSonic technicolor with a CAST of THOUSANDS and a Real, Live, Military MARCHING BAND. Say farewell to taste and sensitivity; hello to needless excess and hyperbole: the principal cast is all but lost in the crowd in Act II.
This is a jewel. Just about perfect in every way, and an example of how an old but goodie can be updated without being baffling or fighting against the music. Kudos to director Laurent Pelly and the entire cast. Juan Diego Florez and Natalie Dessay shine with vocal highlights every time. An updated production which sticks to the story, respects the music, and allows the performers to take the stage.
There are few occasions to match the excitement and glamour and of an Opening Night at the Met. This spectacular gala showcased the extraordinary soprano Renée Fleming in three different, equally dazzling roles, each costumed by a different designer. The famous productions by Franco Zeffirelli (Verdi’s La Traviata, Act II, conducted by James Levine), Jean-Pierre Ponnelle (Massenet’s Manon, Act III), and John Cox (Strauss’s Capriccio, final scene) were fully staged. With Ramón Vargas, Thomas Hampson, Dwayne Croft, and Robert Lloyd. Performance date: September 22, 2008.
It is no wonder that Met audiences have gone wild over Karita Mattila’s sizzling Salome. Indisputably one of the greatest Salomes of our time, Mattila utterly incarnates Oscar Wilde’s petulant, willful, and lust-driven heroine. With Strauss’s groundbreaking music magnifying the degenerate atmosphere and building the erotic tension, this is one opera that is as shocking today as it was at its premiere in 1905.
John Adams’s mesmerizing score, in the powerful production of Penny Woolcock, tells the story of one of the pivotal moments in human history—the creation of the atomic bomb. Conducted by Alan Gilbert in his Met debut, this gripping opera presents the human face of the scientists, military men, and others who were involved in the project, as they wrestled with the implications of their work. Baritone Gerald Finley gives a powerful star turn in the title role as the brilliant J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Conducted by James Levine, Robert Lepage’s stunning production—with its brilliant marriage of art and technology—thrilled HD audiences around the world. In Berlioz’s rarely performed vision of the immortal Faust legend, Marcello Giordani is a fiery title hero whose impulsive bargain with Méphistophélès (a commanding John Relyea) proves fatal. Susan Graham is a lovely and tragic Marguerite, the woman who gives everything to the man she loves.
When the most voluptuous, sought-after courtesan in the world meets an ascetic monk whose life is devoted to God, you know erotic sparks are going to fly. And when the clash takes place in a glorious, but rarely performed, opera by Massenet, it’s a delight to the ear just as much as to the eye. Renée Fleming is every inch the glamorous Thais, swathed in elegant gowns designed by Christian Lacroix. Thomas Hampson is the tortured man of God. This production by John Cox, which premiered in December 2008, brilliantly sets the stage for a confrontation as old as civilization itself.
Puccini’s achingly beautiful score charmingly conveys the plight of Magda (the “swallow” of the title) who unexpectedly finds true love with the handsome young Ruggero. But their idyllic and happy life comes to an premature end as she is haunted by the fear that her checkered past will ruin his future. Real-life couple and operatic stars Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna portray Puccini’s star-crossed lovers. Ezio Frigerio’s elegant and sophisticated art deco sets add a dazzling touch to Nicholas Joël’s production, which premiered in 2008.
Orfeo goes to the underworld to bring Euridice back from the dead. Gluck gives the Greek tragedy a happy ending when the goddess Amor takes pity on Orfeo a second time, allowing him to take Euridice back upstairs, even after Orfeo broke the rules and looked back at her the first time around. As a secondary bonus, have fun picking out all the famous dead people in Hades.
Mary Zimmerman's production updates the story from 16th to 19th century for reasons that are not explained, nor required by the story. Some interesting aspects are added though; for instance, we see the ghost that haunts Lucia, and in the final scene, Lucia herself is apparently the ghost. The Met's production utilizes Donizetti's original orchestration, which calls for a glass harmonica as the accompaniment in the Mad Scene.
On shore leave in Japan, Lt. Pinkerton goes looking for a little action, and finds it via the marriage broker Goro. Cio-Cio-San innocently believes the wedding ceremony is real, and that Pinkerton means those pretty things he tells her. Just wait until the real Mrs. Pinkerton, back home in America, hears about all this. There will be a Little Trouble ahead.
Just as a young woman is about to marry her sweetheart, she is discovered—by the entire village, to say nothing of her fiancé—asleep in the bedroom of a stranger. It takes the young man two acts to figure out that sleepwalking is to blame, and everything ends happily. Natalie Dessay as Amina and Juan Diego Flórez as Elvino deliver bel canto magic and vocal fireworks in Mary Zimmerman’s 2009 production. The Tony award-winning director transfers Bellini’s bucolic tale to a rehearsal room in contemporary New York, where an opera company rehearses La Sonnambula—and where the singers are truly in love with each other.
Tosca tells the story of three people—a famous opera singer, a free-thinking painter, and a sadistic chief of police—caught in a net of love and politics. Soprano Karita Mattila, recently seen in last season’s Live in HD presentation of Salome, sings the title role for the first time outside her native Finland. Luc Bondy, acclaimed for his imaginative theater and opera productions, directs. The cast also includes Marcelo Álvarez as Cavaradossi and George Gagnidze as Scarpia. Joseph Colaneri conducts.
Set in ancient Egypt, Aida is both a heartbreaking love story and an epic drama full of spectacular crowd scenes. A cast of powerful voices and a grand production bring the story to life on the Met stage (and on the HD screen). Violeta Urmana stars in the title role of the enslaved Ethiopian princess, with Dolora Zajick as her rival. Johan Botha plays Radamès, commander of the Egyptian army, and Daniele Gatti conducts. Among the score’s highlights is the celebrated Triumphal March.
Director Franco Zeffirelli’s breathtaking production of Puccini’s last opera is a favorite of the Met repertoire. Maria Guleghina plays the ruthless Chinese princess of the title, whose hatred of men is so strong that she has all suitors who can’t solve her riddles beheaded. Marcello Giordani sings Calàf, the unknown prince who eventually wins her love and whose solos include the famous “Nessun dorma.”
Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher (South Pacific) directs this new production, returning after the triumph of his Met Barber of Seville (seen live in HD in the 2006–07 season). Offenbach’s fictionalized take on the life and loves of the German Romantic writer E.T.A. Hoffmann is a fascinating psychological journey. Met Music Director James Levine conducts Joseph Calleja in the tour-de-force title role. Anna Netrebko is the tragic Antonia and Alan Held sings the demonic four villains.
Strauss’s comic masterpiece of love and intrigue in 18th-century Vienna stars Renée Fleming as the aristocratic Marschallin and Susan Graham in the trouser role of her young lover. Edo de Waart conducts a cast that also includes Kristinn Sigmundsson and Thomas Allen.
One of the most popular operas of all time, Carmen "is about sex, violence, and racism—and its corollary: freedom," says Olivier Award-winning director Richard Eyre about his new production of Bizet's drama. "It is one of the inalienably great works of art. It's sexy, in every sense. And I think it should be shocking." Elīna Garanča sings the seductive gypsy of the title for the first time at the Met, opposite Roberto Alagna as the obsessed Don José.
Four decades into a legendary Met career, tenor Plácido Domingo makes history singing the title role in Verdi’s gripping political thriller, which is written for a baritone. Adrianne Pieczonka, Marcello Giordani, and James Morris are his co-stars in this moving and tragic story of a father and his lost daughter. James Levine conducts.
The works of Shakespeare have inspired more operatic adaptations than any other writer’s. Simon Keenlyside and Marlis Petersen bring two of Shakespeare’s unforgettable characters to life in this new production of Ambroise Thomas’s Hamlet. For the role of Ophelia, the French composer created an extended mad scene that is among the greatest in opera.
This mythical story of a sorceress who enthralls men in her island prison has inspired operatic settings by a multitude of composers, including Gluck, Haydn, and Dvorˇák. Renée Fleming stars in the title role of Rossini’s version, opposite no fewer than six tenors. Tony Award winner Mary Zimmerman returns to direct this new production of a work she describes as “a buried treasure, a box of jewels.” The fanciful and magical tale, Zimmerman says, “has an epic, enchanted quality and a tremendous visual element.”
Wotan, king of the Norse gods, hired the giants Fafner and Fasolt to build a new palace in the sky for his family and friends. Now the palace is finished, escrow is set to close, but Wotan doesn't have enough cash on hand. What is the ruler of the gods to do? Plunder and steal, of course. When he hears of a Ring of Gold owned by the dwarf Alberich, which endows its owner with limitless power, he believes he has found the answer to his cash-flow troubles. He doesn't yet know that the Ring brings with it a terrible curse. To be continued....
Boris might have been a good Tsar, even a great one, except for that little incident in his past... when he murdered the child who was the rightful heir to Russia's throne. Now his guilty conscience, nightmares, and a council of duplicitous, backstabbing advisers are bringing him to the edge of madness. And there's trouble brewing at the western border...
After disinheriting his nephew Ernesto, Don Pasquale, an elderly bachelor, is intent on marrying in order to produce an heir. Dr. Malatesta, his physician, sympathizes with Ernesto, who lost his inheritance because he wanted to marry the widow Norina. Malatesta devises a plan...
King Phillip II of Spain and his court are stressed out over the Spanish Inquisition, a threat of civil war, and private family squabbles. To lighten the mood, some heretics are burned at the stake.
Operatic version of a spaghetti-western, and unusual in Puccini's output - the hero and heroine are both still alive at the end! Set during the California Gold Rush, this tells the story of the homesick miners, saloon keeper Minnie, and a mysterious visitor to the camp, who might be the notorious bandit, Ramirrez. When Minnie falls for the stranger, Sheriff Rance becomes jealous, and a game of poker will seal someone's fate.
Richard Nixon's historic trip to visit Chairman Mao re-established relations between the USA and China. Both sides wonder if this will prove to be beneficial to either country. Only time and history will be able to answer that.
One of Gluck's so-called "reform" operas. For decades leading up to this period, it was the singers (primarily the castrati) who ruled the opera world, and vocal showmanship overruled every other aspect of performance. Plots didn't matter, neither did characterization, and singers often made up their own vocal lines just to impress the audience. Gluck's operas went radically in a new direction: the music was simplified, plots were shortened and focused, and frequently drew on ancient Greek plays. Iphigenie is considered the prime example of how far Gluck went to bring sense and taste back to the art form.
Lucia's always been a bit unpredictable and on edge; lately she's been seeing ghosts and such too. But when her brother Enrico forces her into a marriage she doesn't want, and her real boyfriend shows up at the wedding, that does it - she goes right over the edge. Sorry, Arturo, she just wasn't that into you. This performance uses the same production team as the 2009 performance, but with a new cast.
Rossini borrowed freely from two of his earlier works to compose Le Comte Ory, and so the story and the musical styles are something of a potpourri. This production is similar: it tells this farcical piece as a play -within - a - play. Leaving aside the challenges in Rossini's remnants of a storyline, Juan Diego Florez and Joyce diDonato, last seen in The Barber of Seville, manage to save this with some spectacular bel-canto coloratura singing.
The age-old question for opera: which is more important, the words or the music? Strauss' last opera doesn't really answer the question, but there's some elegant singing to be heard here, from Ms. Fleming and Mr.Kaiser in particular. (Igor Stravinsky, on the other hand, once said this music makes him gag.)
Plot-wise, everything important already happened 30 years ago, but now all those events from the past play out in a brutal aftermath. Azucena, the gypsy mother to Manrico, has been harboring a grudge for all those years and she is finally about to have her revenge. It's an operatic pot-boiler, and every tune is a winner.
When we last saw him, Wotan had just moved into Valhalla, having offered the Ring to the giants as payment. Fricka, his wife (goddess of marriage), learns that Wotan's illegitimate offspring, the twins Siegmund and Sieglinde, are having an incestuous affair, and she wants Wotan to put an end to it. He doesn't have the heart to kill them, so he asks his favorite daughter, the Valkyrie Brunnhilde, to do it for him. Brunnhilde, confused by the mixed messages, lets them run away instead. Furious at her disobedience, Wotan punishes Brunnhilde by imprisoning her on a rocky mountaintop, surrounding it with impenetrable fire. To be continued...
The first of the Donizetti "Tudor Queens" operas, telling the story of Anne Boleyn's disastrous marriage to Henry VIII. The Met has plans to produce the entire trilogy in future seasons; the remaining two works being Maria Stuarda (Mary, Queen of Scots) and Roberto Devereaux (an alleged secret lover to Queen Elizabeth I). In this, the first of the three, Anna Netrebko plays the doomed queen, Ildar Abdrazakov is her Henry VIII, and Stephen Costello is Lord Percy.
Mozart had an uncanny knack for aggravating the aristocrats who were his employers. His previous opera, The Marriage of Figaro, depicted servants who always outwitted their masters. Now, with Don Giovanni, he turns what had been a silly stock comedy piece into a morality play in which the protagonist is another aristocrat, this one licentious and gluttonous, who commits rape and murder. And in the end he's dragged screaming into Hell, without even dying first. Emperor Joseph didn't know what to make of it: "Not the meat for my Viennese public, dear Mozart." Mozart replied: "Then give them some time to chew it."
It's been 20 years since Wotan sent Brunnhilde to bed without supper... By now, the twins' baby Siegfried has grown up, never gone to school, can barely write his name in the ground with a stick, and he's never known fear, which makes him seem more brave than stupid. He sets off to do manly things and have manly adventures, like killing his guardian, slaying a dragon, stealing the Ring, when he sees a rocky summit that's on fire. What's up there, he wonders, so he goes to check that out, and finds Brunnhilde. They fall in love. He doesn't know that this is his grandfather's step-daughter, which makes her his aunt. His very favorite, special Aunt, if you catch my drift...
A 1979 opera by American composer Philip Glass, the second in his series of operas about personalities who changed the world (the other two are Akhnaten and Einstein on the Beach). Loosely based on the life of Mohandas K. Gandhi and the text, from the Bhagavad Gita, is sung in the original Sanskrit. The title refers to Gandhi's concept of non-violent resistance to injustice.
Noted Baroque conductor Harry Bicket leads the forces in Handel's opera seria, with Renee Fleming, Joseph Kaiser and Stephanie Blythe. Politics, melodrama, and vocal fireworks abound. Bertarido has escaped to Hungary following an attack by the forces of Grimoaldo, supported by Garibaldo, who had previously been a follower of Bertarido. His wife and son were left behind, and he has returned in disguise to rescue them. However Rodelinda believes him to be dead...
The oft-told tale of the scientist Faust, who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for an extra 24 years to live, is updated, apparently happening entirely in the confines of Faust's lab, which makes the Act 2 carnival hard to fathom. on the plus side, Jonas Kaufmann as Faust and Rene Pape as Mephistopheles are both in fine form here, especially in the devil's sardonic aria, "Vous qui faites l'endormie" (in other words, "put a ring on it").
They might have called it "Placido on the half-shell.." An outrageous and ingenious mix 'n' match of music by Handel, Rameau, Vivaldi set to a mash-up storyline borrowed from The Tempest (Shakespeare) and Island of Enchantments (John Dryden). It's ingenious; it works; and Placido Domingo's entrance is a show-stopper.
Siegfried and Brunnhilde have been shacking up for a while, but he's itching to do manly things again. Brunnhilde sends him out with her horse, Grane: just be back in time for supper. Well, that never happens, because Siegfried is tricked into drinking a potion which makes him fall in love with someone else, and then they trick him into kidnapping Brunnhilde. Why do they want her? She has the Ring; it was Siegfried's wedding present. More dirty tricks and double-dealings; Siegfried ends up dead. Brunnhilde has had enough of this, tosses the Ring into the river, and torches the place. Somehow that causes The Entire World to catch fire and nothing is left but the Rhine River.
Ernani, an outlawed nobleman, is heading a resistance effort against Don Carlo, who killed Ernani's father. The rebel also is planning to elope with his beloved, Elvira. Unfortunately, Don Carlo also has designs on Elvira... In his early years, Verdi's librettos are rife with Ridiculous Coincidences and Preposterous Plot Twists, and Ernani is no exception. It's the music that lifts it from the laughably absurd to another realm. His Nabucco brought him fame throughout Italy, but Ernani pushed him onto the world stage. Within a year it was being performed throughout Europe; Verdi had arrived.
On her way to convent school, Naive Manon is seduced by the Chevalier des Grieux; they run away and share an apartment in Paris. Gradually Manon learns to use her beauty to get ahead in the world of men. In 19th Century opera, that usually means bad news for the woman.
The Parisian courtesan with a heart of gold and dignity to die for (literally), and how she was wronged by the cruel society that used her but would not forgive her. And yes, she will die before it's all over, and she will have sacrificed everything; and it's sad and tragic, and it will be too late to make matters right with her; that's why that big clock is ticking away in the background like that, just in case you were wondering.
Nemorino (Matthew Polenzani) is in love with Adina (Anna Netrebko), but isn't too sure if she feels the same way about him. She might be more interested in the handsome Sgt Belcore (Marius Kwieczen). Perhaps a bottle of Dr. Dulcamara's special love potion will help....
It took Verdi's publisher several months and repeated meetings to coax the composer out of retirement; it was only after meeting his librettist, Arrigo Boito, that Verdi finally gave in and agreed to compose Otello. The work was an immediate success and has remained so since; it is one of the pinnacles of Western music, with vocal writing that nearly all singers aspire to, from the dark intensity of the conniving Iago, to the brooding and enraged Otello, to the loving and tender Desdemona. The final act is a non-stop flow of music wedded to drama, showing the composer in full control of his art.
Based on Shakespeare's play in spirit and story, if not the actual text. Composer Ades employs a variety of musical styles and forms, ranging from dissonance to lyrical tonality and even a form borrowed from baroque era - a passacaglia for five voice in the third act. As one reviewer wrote of it: "Contemporary lyriic opera is still viable... [this} looks and behaves like an opera... characterization and dramatic pacing are wonderfully sustained."
Mozart went two years without an opera commission after Cosi Fan Tutte in 1788. La Clemenza di Tito was composed "on spec" for the new emperor's coronation and is something of a regression for Mozart in choice of subject matter. The libretto had already been used nearly 40 times by other composers, with minor revisions here and there. Intrigue in ancient Rome, the Capitol burns, Emperor Tito forgives everybody. Give Mozart a break, he needed the cash.
Sung with great power and drama by Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Marcleo Alvarez, and Sondra Radvanovsky. The staging is often at odds with the libretto: for instance, in the second scene, we are supposedly in the hut of witch / fortune-teller Ulrica. Why does it seem that we are at a coffee-house or library reading room? Why do Amelia and the Governor and Renato have their secret encounter in a brightly-lit public hall: surely they would all recognize one another, no? Why does the page-boy Oscar have feathers?
The Met reprises its 2009 performance with a fresh cast, and the results are an impressive improvement over the prior outing. Monastyrska makes her Met debut and is a revelation as the Ehtiopian princess; Alagna acquits himself well here as her love interest, Radames.
Berlioz did not live long enough to see a fully realized performance of his monumental achievement: the operatic version of Virgil's Aeneid. In its day it was overshadowed by the more popular works by Meyerbeer (L'Africaine) and Halevy (Le Juive) but in the later half of the 20th century it has come to be recognized for its forward-looking musical ideas and breadth of expression. A cast of Met powehouses takes us through the Trojan Wars of antiquity.
The second in Donizetti's trilogy of the "Tudor Queens" is the story of Mary, Queen of Scots. Even working within the constraints of bel canto conventions, Donizetti infuses the drama with moments of intense emotion, most notably in the duet between the two queens (Mary and Elizabeth) in which the accusations and insults and hostilities are hurled in every direction.
Rigoletto re-imagined for some reason in Las Vegas, Rat Pack era. The Duke is now Frank Sinatra, the courtiers are his buddies. Rigoletto might be Don Rickles. Who can say? Two oddities in this: for their initial encounter hit-man and would-be assassin Sparafucile and Rigoletto buddy-up to the bar. One would think they'd exercise a little more discretion, given the subject matter of their conversation. And for the final scene, when Rigoletto discovers a body in the trunk of his car, it's tempting to shout out, "Well, drive her to the emergency room, for Pete's sake.."
The Met assembled an ideal cast for François Girard’s acclaimed new production of Wagner’s final masterpiece. Jonas Kaufmann in the title role of the fool “made wise by compassion” is as convincing vocally as he is haunting dramatically, delivering a thoroughly moving portrayal. René Pape is equally compelling as Gurnemanz, the veteran Knight of the Grail, and Katarina Dalayman thrillingly brings out the dual sides of Kundry. Peter Mattei is Amfortas, the anguished ruler of the Grail’s kingdom, and Evgeny Nikitin sings the evil magician Klingsor. Daniele Gatti on the podium reveals both the serenity and dramatic tension of what may be Wagner’s greatest score.
Paulo is sent by his brother Giovanni to fetch him a bride, and now Francesca waits for him to arrive. This being opera, they immediately fall head over heels in love. Still, she has been promised to the brother, who happens to be older and a powerful and remorseless warrior. This story is drawn from Dante, and the moral seems pretty clear: It's not cool to sleep with your brother's new wife.
Handel's opera tells the story of Julius Caesar's visit to Cleopatra in Egypt. It is considered by many to be the prime example of opera seria: a noble and "serious" style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to c. 1770. The castrati voices dominated these works, though nowadays they are more likely to be sung by a countertenor or mezzo. This was also the period that gave rise to the "prima donna" or Leading Lady, who typically had several showy, florid arias in varying styles composed for her.
Anna Netrebko and Mariusz Kwiecien star as the lovestruck Tatiana and the imperious Onegin in Tchaikovsky's fateful romance. Deborah Warner's new production, directed by Fiona Shaw, is set in the late 19th century and moves episodically from farmhouse to ballroom, with a powerful snowstorm providing the dramatic setting for the finale. Piotr Beczala is Lenski, Onegin's friend turned rival. Later performances in the run feature another extraordinary cast: Marina Poplavskaya, Peter Mattei, and Rolando Villazón. Russian maestro Valery Gergiev conducts.
William Kentridge stormed the Met with his inventive production of Shostakovich’s opera, which dazzled opera and art lovers alike in its inaugural run in 2010. Now Paulo Szot reprises his acclaimed performance of a bureaucrat, whose satirical misadventures in search of his missing nose are based on Gogol’s comic story. Pavel Smelkov conducts.
Luc Bondy’s dramatic production of Puccini’s operatic thriller stars Patricia Racette in the title role of the jealous diva, opposite Roberto Alagna as her lover, Cavaradossi, the painter whose political ideals lead them both into tragedy. George Gagnidze is Scarpia, the villainous chief of police who wants Tosca for himself. Riccardo Frizza leads the Met’s musical forces in this powerful verismo score.
Music Director James Levine conducts his first new Met production after a two-year absence: Robert Carsen’s hit staging of Verdi’s great human comedy. Ambrogio Maestri is an ideal Falstaff, leading an extraordinary ensemble cast of veteran and up-and-coming Met stars, including Angela Meade (Alice), Stephanie Blythe (Mistress Quickly), Franco Vasallo (Ford), and Jennifer Johnson Cano (Meg). Lisette Oropesa and Paolo Fanale are the young lovers, Nannetta and Fenton.
Otto Schenk’s storybook production perfectly captures the fairy-tale world of Dvořák’s supremely romantic opera. Star soprano Renée Fleming, in one of her most acclaimed portrayals, takes on the title role of the water nymph who longs to be human, opposite Piotr Beczała as the Prince, the object of her affection. John Relyea is the Water Gnome, Dolora Zajick sings the witch Ježibaba, and Emily Magee is the Foreign Princess. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts.
Dmitri Tcherniakov’s acclaimed new production of Borodin’s Russian epic—the opera’s first Met staging in nearly a century—stars Ildar Abdrazakov in the title role of the tormented prince who leads his army against the Polovtsians. The stellar all-Russian-language cast also includes Oksana Dyka as his wife, Yaroslavna, Anita Rachvelishvili as Konchakova, Sergey Semishkur as Igor’s son, Vladimir, Mikhail Petrenko as Prince Galitzky, and Štefan Kocán as Khan Konchak. Gianandrea Noseda conducts the Met’s vast musical forces in this colorful score, which includes the celebrated Polovtsian Dances.
Star tenor Jonas Kaufmann brings aching intensity and vocal charisma to the tortured title hero of Massenet’s Goethe adaptation. Sophie Koch, in her Met debut, is an appealing and elegant Charlotte, the object of Werther’s passionate affection that will lead to tragedy. Lisette Oropesa as Sophie, David Bižić as Albert, and Jonathan Summers as Le Bailli co-star. Richard Eyre’s atmospheric production is conducted by rising maestro Alain Altinoglu.
A new generation of rising stars shines in Franco Zeffirelli’s classic production of Puccini’s most popular opera. Vittorio Grigolo is the poor poet Rodolfo who falls head over heels for his neighbor, the seamstress Mimì, sung by the radiant Kristine Opolais. Susanna Phillips is the flirtatious Musetta, Massimo Cavaletti is her sweetheart Marcello, and Patrick Carfizzi as Schaunard and Oren Gradus as Colline complete the ensemble. Stefano Ranzani conducts.
The last of Mozart’s legendary collaborations with librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte, this exuberant comedy of manners and morals tracks an ill-conceived bet about women’s fidelity and the darkly hilarious fall-out it produces. The master composer lines his score with stunning arias, ebullient ensembles, and frothy orchestral accompaniments, while Phelim McDermott’s staging relocates the hijinks to 1950s Coney Island, offering a fun and zany take on this comic masterpiece.
Star soprano Anna Netrebko created a sensation with her riveting performance as the malevolent Lady Macbeth, the central character in Verdi’s retelling of Shakespeare’s tragedy. She is joined by Željko Lučić, who brings dramatic intensity and vocal authority to the title role of the honest general driven to murder and deceit by his ambitious wife. The great René Pape is Banquo and Joseph Calleja gives a moving performance as Macduff. Adrian Noble’s powerful production provides an ideal setting for this dark drama, which is masterfully presided over by Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi.
Richard Eyre’s elegant production, which opened the Met’s 2014–15 season, sets the action of Mozart’s timeless social comedy in a manor house in 1930s Seville. Ildar Abdrazakov leads the cast as the resourceful Figaro set on outwitting his master, the philandering Count Almaviva, played by Peter Mattei. Marlis Petersen sings Susanna, the object of the Count’s affection and Figaro’s bride-to-be, Amanda Majeski is the Countess, and Isabel Leonard gives a standout performance as the pageboy Cherubino. Music Director James Levine on the podium brings out all the humor, drama, and humanity of Mozart’s score.
Georgian mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili gives a dynamic performance as Bizet’s iconic gypsy, the woman who lives by her own rules. Aleksandrs Antonenko is Don José, the soldier who falls under her spell, and Ildar Abdrazakov plays Escamillo, the swaggering bullfighter who takes Carmen away from Don José—an action that seals Carmen’s tragic fate. Anita Hartig is Micaëla, and Pablo Heras-Casado conducts Richard Eyre’s hit production, set in 1930s Spain.
A youthful cast brings Rossini’s immortal comedy to sparkling life, led by Christopher Maltman as Figaro, the resourceful barber and man-about-town of the title. The lovely Isabel Leonard is Rosina, the clever young woman at the center of the story, and Lawrence Brownlee sings Count Almaviva, the man who loves her and—with Figaro’s help—rescues her from the house of her elderly and smitten guardian, Bartolo, played by Maurizio Muraro. Paata Burchuladze is the bumbling music master Basilio, and rising conductor and bel canto specialist Michele Mariotti leads the Met’s musical forces in Bartlett Sher’s lively production.
James Levine leads a stirring performance of Wagner’s epic comedy, seen in Otto Schenk’s classic production. Baritone Michael Volle stars as Hans Sachs, the cobbler-poet at the heart of this story of love, art, and youth vs. age. Leading Wagnerian tenor Johan Botha is Walther von Stolzing, the young knight whose new ideas upset the traditional ways of the master singers, and Annette Dasch sings Eva, the girl he loves, whose hand has been promised to the winner of a singing contest. Johannes Martin Kränzle as the pedantic town clerk Beckmesser, Hans-Peter König as Pogner, Eva’s father, and Paul Appleby as David, Sachs’s apprentice complete the stellar cast.
Renée Fleming lights up the Met stage as Hanna Glawari, the fabulously wealthy widow of the title in Lehár’s beloved operetta, set in Paris and seen in a glittering production directed and choreographed by Broadway’s Susan Stroman. Nathan Gunn is Danilo, Hanna’s former flame, who is supposed to woo and marry her in order to keep her fortune in their home country of Pontevedro. Kelli O’Hara sings Valencienne, the flirtatious young wife of the Pontevedrian ambassador in Paris, Baron Zeta, played by Thomas Allen, and Alek Shrader is her suitor, Camille. Andrew Davis conducts the waltz-rich score, and the new English translation is by Jeremy Sams.
New tenor star Vittorio Grigolo takes on the title role in Offenbach’s fantastical opera, giving a tour-de-force performance as the tortured poet unlucky in love. He is joined by a trio of leading ladies: Erin Morley sings the mechanical doll Olympia, Hibla Gerzmava is the fragile Antonia, and Christine Rice sings Giulietta, the Venetian courtesan. Bartlett Sher’s colorful production, seen here in its second Live in HD presentation, also stars Thomas Hampson as the sinister Four Villains and Kate Lindsey as Niklausse, Hoffmann’s friend and muse. Yves Abel conducts.
Valery Gergiev conducts Mariusz Trelinski’s thrilling new production of these rarely heard one-act operas. Anna Netrebko stars as the blind princess of the title in Tchaikovsky’s lyrical work, opposite Piotr Beczała as Vaudémont, the man who wins her love—and wakes her desire to be able to see. Nadja Michael and Mikhail Petrenko are Judith and Bluebeard in Bartók’s gripping psychological thriller about a woman discovering her new husband’s murderous past.
An all-star cast assembled for the Met’s first-ever performances of Rossini’s romantic retelling of Sir Walter Scott’s epic poem The Lady of the Lake. Joyce DiDonato is Elena, the title heroine, who is being pursued by not one, but two tenors—setting off sensational vocal fireworks. Juan Diego Flórez is King James V of Scotland, disguised as the humble Uberto, and John Osborn sings his political enemy, and rival in love, Rodrigo Di Dhu. Complicating matters is the fact that Elena herself loves Malcolm, a trouser role sung by mezzo-soprano Daniela Barcellona, and that she is the daughter of Duglas (Oren Gradus), another of the king’s political adversaries. Paul Curran’s atmospheric production is conducted by Michele Mariotti.
Director David McVicar’s new production brings opera’s favorite double bill to new life, setting the two operas in the same Sicilian setting, separated by two generations. Marcelo Álvarez takes on the rare feat of singing both leading tenor roles. In Cavalleria, he is Turiddu, the young man who abandons Santuzza (Eva-Maria Westbroek) in his pursuit of the married Lola (Ginger Costa-Jackson)—and ends up being killed in a duel with her husband, Alfio (George Gagnidze). In Pagliacci, Álvarez is Canio, the leader of a traveling vaudeville troupe. Patricia Racette sings Nedda, his unfaithful young wife, whose plans to run away with her lover are foiled by her spurned admirer Tonio (George Gagnidze)—with equally tragic consequences. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi is on the podium.
Anna Netrebko is Leonora, the young noblewoman at the center of the story, who is in love with the troubadour of the title - tenor Yonghoon Lee - but also pursued by Count di Luna, sung by the great Dmitri Hvorostovsky. Dolora Zajick completes the quartet of principals in her signature role of Azucena, the mysterious Gypsy woman who sets the dramatic events in motion. Marco Armiliato conducts David McVicar’s Goya-inspired production.
Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher’s bold new production probes the psychological underpinnings of Verdi’s dynamic setting of Shakespeare’s great tragedy. At the helm of this performance is riveting conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who brings out all the cascading emotions in Verdi’s turbulent score. Aleksandrs Antonenko is the Moor Otello, the triumphant general of the Venetian army who is ultimately brought down by the sly insinuations of his friend Iago (Željko Lučić). Sonya Yoncheva continues to win fans as Desdemona, Otello’s faithful and long-suffering wife. With Günther Groissböck as Lodovico and Dimitri Pittas as Cassio.
Met Music Director James Levine leads this Live in HD presentation of Wagner’s early Romantic opera, starring Johan Botha in the title role of the minnesinger torn between earthly passion and true love. Eva-Maria Westbroek is Elisabeth, whose unswerving devotion redeems Tannhäuser’s soul, and Peter Mattei sings Wolfram, his faithful friend. Michelle DeYoung as the love goddess Venus and Günther Groissböck as Landgraf Hermann complete the cast. Otto Schenk’s classic production was the first of his acclaimed Wagner stagings at the Met.
William Kentridge’s multi-layered production of Berg’s masterpiece stars charismatic soprano Marlis Petersen in the title role—the enigmatic and alluring woman who is equal parts femme fatale, innocent girl, and abused victim. The men around her, whose lives she forever alters, are Johan Reuter as newspaper publisher Dr. Schön; Daniel Brenna as his composer son, Alwa; Paul Groves as the Painter; and Franz Grundheber as Schigolch. Susan Graham sings Countess Geschwitz, and Lothar Koenigs conducts Berg’s landmark score.
Bizet’s rarely heard opera returned to the Met for the first time in a century on New Year’s Eve 2015, in Penny Woolcock’s acclaimed new production. Star soprano Diana Damrau sings Leïla, the virgin priestess at the center of the story. Matthew Polenzani and Mariusz Kwiecien are Nadir and Zurga, rivals for Leïla’s love who have sworn to renounce her to protect their friendship—and who get to sing one of opera’s most celebrated duets, “Au fond du temple saint.” Nicolas Testé is the high priest Nourabad and Gianandrea Noseda conducts Bizet’s supremely romantic score.
Franco Zeffirelli’s golden production stars the great dramatic soprano Nina Stemme as Turandot, the icy Chinese princess who has renounced all men. Marco Berti is Calàf, the unknown prince who solves Turandot’s riddles and wins her love. Anita Hartig sings Liù, the faithful slave girl who gives her life to save Calàf, and Alexander Tsymbalyuk is Timur. Paolo Carignani conducts.
Kristine Opolais is the young woman whose conflicting desires for love and luxury lead to her tragic end, and Roberto Alagna plays the man who falls for her in Puccini’s early hit. Richard Eyre’s elegant production, which sets the action in 1940s occupied France, was one of the highlights of the Met’s 2015–16 season. Massimo Cavalletti as Manon’s brother and Brindley Sherratt as her aging admirer co-star, and Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi is on the podium.
Anthony Minghella’s beautiful, atmospheric production enhances Puccini’s drama of unfortunate, doomed love. Soprano Kristine Opolais brings all of her passionate commitment to her portrayal of Cio-Cio-San, the teenage geisha who gives up everything for Lt. Pinkerton. Roberto Alagna is the American naval officer who does not understand the depth of Cio-Cio-San’s love, and whose subsequent marriage to an American woman precipitates Butterfly’s suicide. Maria Zifchak is Suzuki, Cio-Cio-San’s faithful servant, and Dwayne Croft plays the American consul Sharpless, who tries to avert the tragedy. Karel Mark Chichon conducts.
Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky completes her season-long exploration of Donizetti’s three Tudor queen operas, starring as Elizabeth I in this final installment. David McVicar’s atmospheric Met premiere production frames the dramatic and heart-rending love story of the queen and the Earl of Essex as a play within a play unfolding before the members of the royal court. Radvanovsky’s portrayal of the aging monarch is a tour de force, laying bare the conflict between her public duties as ruler of England and her private feelings as a woman. Matthew Polenzani is the Earl of Essex, Roberto Devereux, the object of her affections who is torn between two women. Elīna Garanča as Sarah and Mariusz Kwiecien as her husband, the Duke of Nottingham, complete the quartet of principals. Maurizio Benini conducts.
The great singing actress Nina Stemme gives a heart-wrenching performance in the title role of Strauss’s blazing one-act drama, adapted from the ancient Greek myth. Patrice Chéreau’s acclaimed production—the last staging he worked on before his death in 2013—also stars Waltraud Meier as Klytämnestra, Elektra’s nightmare-haunted mother, Adrianne Pieczonka as Chrysothemis, her sister, and Eric Owens as Orest, their brother, whose return home brings their family story to a terrifying climax. Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the monumental and highly influential score.
Met audiences were fascinated by Mariusz Treliński’s gripping, visionary production of Wagner’s epic opera. In the daunting title roles of the doomed lovers, Nina Stemme and Stuart Skelton are passionate, overwhelming, and heartbreaking as they battle every obstacle that separates them from their true destiny. René Pape is King Marke, betrayed not only by Isolde but by Tristan, the man he most trusts and loves like a son. With Ekaterina Gubanova as Isolde’s confidante Brangäne and Evgeny Nikitin as Kurwenal, Tristan’s loyal lieutenant. Simon Rattle conducts a surging, shimmering account of Wagner’s monumental score.
Simon Keenlyside smolders dangerously in the title role of Mozart’s version of the legend of Don Juan, creating a vivid portrait of a man who is a law unto himself, and all the more dangerous for his eternally seductive allure. Adam Plachetka is his occasionally unruly servant Leporello. It’s when Giovanni tangles with Donna Anna (Hibla Gerzmava) that things start to unravel, aided by the reappearance of Donna Elvira (Malin Byström), who is determined not to let her seducer go. With Paul Appleby as Don Ottavio, Donna Anna’s eternally steadfast fiancé. Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi leads the Met Orchestra and Chorus.
Robert Lepage’s dreamlike production, with its thousands of twinkling LED lights stretching across the stage to represent the sea, encapsulates the mystic feeling of L’Amour de Loin, Saariaho’s haunting opera of distant love. Eric Owens is Jaufré Rudel, a troubadour in 12th century France who has become tired of his hedonistic life and longs for an idealized love. Enter the Pilgrim (Tamara Mumford) who tells him his perfect love does, in fact, exist, far across the sea. She is Clémence, Countess of Tripoli (Susanna Phillips). The magic of the characters’ inner lives as they explore the meaning of love, longing, life, and death is heightened by Saariaho’s hypnotic and bewitching score, conducted by Susanna Mälkki.
Legendary superstar Plácido Domingo and Met Music Director Emeritus James Levine continue their historic partnership in this performance of the opera that first made composer Giuseppe Verdi famous. Domingo portrays Nabucco, the King of Babylon, who is supernaturally driven mad when he proclaims himself God, then restored to health when he repents. Liudmyla Monastyrska is the cruel and treacherous Abigaille, supposedly Nabucco’s oldest daughter but actually a slave, who seizes the crown and plots the death of her sister Fenena (Jamie Barton), who loves Ismaele (Russell Thomas), as does Abigaille. With Dmitry Belosselskiy as the High Priest of Jerusalem, Zaccaria.
Tony Award–winning director Bartlett Sher’s new staging of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette updates the action to 18th-century Verona and conjures both the magic and heartbreak of this timeless love story. Tenor Vittorio Grigolo and soprano Diana Damrau enchanted audiences as Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers, with Damrau displaying glittering coloratura virtuosity and Grigolo delivering passionate longing and a moving rendition of the famous aria “Ah! lève-toi, soleil!” On the podium, maestro Gianandrea Noseda draws a wealth of orchestral color from Gounod’s lush score.
Since her 2013 debut as Magda in La Rondine, Kristine Opolais has become familiar to Met audiences in the works of Giacomo Puccini. In 2016, the soprano’s performances as the title heroine of Dvořák’s Rusalka allowed her to show off another of her signature roles. In a new production by Mary Zimmerman, this classic tale of a water sprite yearning to become a human to find love starts as a whimsical fairytale but quickly develops into a heartbreaking tragedy. On the podium, Sir Mark Elder leads a stirring account of Dvořák’s score, drawing a rich palette of musical colors from the Met Orchestra. Tenor Brandon Jovanovich gives a virile performance as the infatuated Prince, alongside bass Eric Owens as Rusalka’s father, the Water Gnome, and Jamie Barton as the devilish sorceress Ježibaba.
La Traviata’s sumptuous melodies and timeless depiction of doomed love have made the work a favorite of generations of operagoers. In his approach to this classic drama, director Willy Decker sets the action on a nearly bare stage, focusing the audience’s full attention on the three main characters. As Violetta, the ailing courtesan desperate to escape her past, soprano Sonya Yoncheva offers a fearless and sympathetic performance from beginning to end. American tenor Michael Fabiano sings with ardent longing as her devoted lover Alfredo, delivering emotionally wrought phrases and ringing top notes. Thomas Hampson brings a burnished baritone to Germont, Alfredo’s protective father whose stern demands spell disaster for the young couple. On the podium, maestro Nicola Luisotti leads an electric performance of Verdi’s unforgettable score.
Mozart’s early masterpiece returned to the Met for the first time in more than a decade with Music Director Emeritus James Levine, who led the work’s company premiere in 1982, again on the podium. Tenor Matthew Polenzani brings both steely resolve and compassionate warmth to the title king of Crete, who is faced with an impossible decision. With her rich mezzo-soprano, Alice Coote sings the trouser role of Idomeneo’s son Idamante, who loves the Trojan princess Ilia, sung with delicate lyricism by Nadine Sierra. Elza van den Heever gives a thrillingly unhinged portrayal of the jealous Elettra. Jean Pierre-Ponnelle’s timeless production blends the grandeur of ancient myth with the elegance of Enlightenment ideals.
When Deborah Warner’s production of Eugene Onegin opened the Met season in 2013, soprano Anna Netrebko had only recently begun singing the role of Tatiana; however, when she returned to the part at the Met a few years later, her dramatic approach, like that of the character herself, had grown over time. With a smoldering vocal performance, Netrebko embodies the nuanced aspects of Tatiana’s personality—growing from a girl in the blossom of youth into an elegant, cosmopolitan princess. Opposite her, Peter Mattei sings the title role, a nonplussed aristocrat who discovers the power of love too late, with a rich, supple baritone. As the ardent poet Lenski, bright-voiced tenor Alexey Dolgov offers a heartbreaking portrayal. Elena Maximova is Lenski’s carefree lover Olga, and bass Stefan Kocán delivers a moving performance as the aging Prince Gremin. Maestro Robin Ticciati leads the Met Orchestra and Chorus in a textured reading of Tchaikovsky’s beloved score.
Renée Fleming, the silver-voiced American soprano, sings her final performance as the elegant princess coming to grips with the persistent passage of time. Mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča delivers a commanding portrayal as Octavian, the title “Knight of the Rose” and the Marschallin’s impetuous young lover, in Robert Carsen’s madcap new production—which sets the action in 1911, the year of the work’s premiere. As the plucky young heiress Sophie, Erin Morley sings with a radiantly beautiful soprano, while bass Günther Groissböck offers a larger-than-life portrayal of Baron Ochs auf Lerchenau, the outlandish nobleman lusting after every woman in sight. And tenor Matthew Polenzani excites with his cameo appearance as the Italian Singer in Act I.
The blazing title role of Bellini’s Norma has been a star-making vehicle for some of opera’s most beloved sopranos, so when Sondra Radvanovsky first took on the part at the Met in 2013, it marked a new chapter of her career. She returned four years later to reprise her riveting portrayal, this time opening the 2017–18 season in an evocative new production by Sir David McVicar. Captured live in HD, her performance is nothing less than a tour-de-force, combining dramatic commitment with true bel canto singing—Radvanovsky balances the role’s powerful intensity with moments of delicate lyricism. As Adalgisa, the young priestess torn between love and duty, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato delivers an interpretation imbued with great emotional nuance. Tenor Joseph Calleja is the aggressive Roman proconsul Pollione, with Matthew Rose as Norma’s father, the warrior Oroveso. Leading the Met Orchestra and Chorus, maestro Carlo Rizzi draws out the vibrant color of Bellini’s masterful score.
A whimsical fairy tale with themes deeply rooted in the Enlightenment and principles of Free Masonry, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) appeals to audiences of all ages. Tony Award–winner Julie Taymor matches the magic and mystery of this timeless fable with a staging that bursts to life with vivid colors, intricate costumes, and inventive puppetry. In this performance from the 2017–18 Live in HD season, tenor Charles Castronovo stars as Tamino, the noble prince on a quest to rescue the maiden Pamina, sung by radiant soprano Golda Schultz in her Met-debut season.
As the opera opens, a group of elegant socialites gather for a lavish dinner party, but when it is time to leave for the night, no one is able to escape. Soon, their behavior becomes increasingly erratic and savage. The large ensemble cast tackles both the vocal and dramatic demands of Adès's opera with one riveting performance after another. Tom Cairns, who also penned the work's libretto, directs an engrossing and inventive production, using a towering wooden archway to trap the characters onstage. And Adès himself takes the podium to conduct the frenzied score, which features a host of unconventional instruments, including the eerie electronic ondes Martenot.
Sir David McVicar’s bold new staging of Tosca, Puccini’s operatic thriller of Napoleonic Rome, thrilled Met audiences when it rang in the New Year in 2018. Only weeks later, the production was seen by opera lovers worldwide as part of the Met’s Live in HD series of cinema presentations. In this performance, Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva is the passionate title diva, opposite charismatic tenor Vittorio Grigolo as her lover, the idealistic painter Mario Cavaradossi. Baritone Željko Lučić is the menacing Baron Scarpia, the evil chief of police who employs brutal tactics to ensnare both criminals and sexual conquests. On the podium, Emmanuel Villaume conducts the electrifying score, which features some of Puccini’s most memorable melodies.
Donizetti’s bubbly romantic comedy about a spunky landowner, a hapless peasant, and the dubious love potion that may or may not bring them together never fails to delight audiences. In this performance from the Met’s Live in HD series, South African soprano Pretty Yende stars as Adina, imbuing her character with lovable warmth while tossing off effortless coloratura passages from beginning to end. Tenor Matthew Polenzani is Nemorino, Adina’s love-struck admirer, who pours out his heart in the moving aria “Una furtiva lagrima.” The cast also includes baritone Davide Luciano as the swaggering Sergeant Belcore and Ildebrando D’Arcangelo as the wily Dr. Dulcamara, and Domingo Hindoyan conducts Bartlett’s Sher’s charming and colorful production.
Puccini’s timeless love story, which includes some of its composer’s most beloved music, has moved generations of opera lovers since its 1896 world premiere. It has also proved incredibly popular with the Met’s global HD audiences and has been featured in three live high-definition transmissions since 2008. The most recent, presented during the 2017–18 season, includes a cast of celebrated young artists. Soprano Sonya Yoncheva is the fragile seamstress Mimì, who instantly falls in love with the passionate poet Rodolfo, sung by tenor Michael Fabiano. Soprano Susanna Phillips and baritone Lucas Meachem trade both spars and kisses as the on-again-off-again lovers Musetta and Marcello, with bass Matthew Rose and baritone Alexey Lavrov rounding out the rambunctious gang of bohemian friends. Maestro Marco Armiliato takes the podium to lead Franco Zeffirelli’s picturesque staging.
A rarely performed bel canto gem, Rossini’s Semiramide returned to the Met for the first time in nearly 25 years during the 2017–18 season. Set in ancient Babylon under the reign of the mythic Queen Semiramis, the opera features political scheming, mistaken identity, divine intervention, and bloodthirsty revenge—not to mention one virtuosic vocal display after another. Soprano Angela Meade is the fierce title monarch, whose quest for power comes to a halt with the discovery that the object of her affection, the warrior Arsace—sung by mezzo-soprano Elizabeth DeShong—may actually be her long-lost son.
In this new production of Mozart’s effervescent comedy of young love and infidelity, director Phelim McDermott and his team of designers have updated the opera’s setting to a boardwalk amusement park inspired by Coney Island in the 1950s. The result is a twisted playground in which the two pairs of lovers at the heart of the tale find themselves on one emotional, and sometimes literal, thrill ride after another. Performed as part of the Met’s Live in HD series of cinema transmissions, the production features a cast of breakout young artists—soprano Amanda Majeski, mezzo-soprano Serena Malfi, tenor Ben Bliss, and bass-baritone Adam Plachetka. Baritone Christopher Maltman, as the scheming Don Alfonso, and Tony Award–winning actress Kelli O’Hara, who triumphed in her 2014 Met debut in Lehár’s The Merry Widow, join the quartet of rising stars. David Robertson conducts Mozart’s colorful and heartfelt score.
Premiered immediately before the enduring masterpieces Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, and La Traviata, Luisa Miller incorporates the youthful vitality that had made Verdi an international sensation while also looking forward to the dramaturgical discipline and sophistication of those later works. In this Live in HD performance, soprano Sonya Yoncheva takes on the riveting title role, capping off a season in which she starred in three cinema transmissions. As her father, Miller, the legendary Plácido Domingo adds another baritone role to his extensive repertoire. Tenor Piotr Beczała as Rodolfo, Alexander Vinogradov as Count Walter, and Dmitry Belosselskiy as Wurm round out the illustrious cast, and Bertrand de Billy conducts.
The 2017–18 Live in HD season concluded with an enchanted performance of Cendrillon, Massenet’s glittering operatic adaptation of the Cinderella story. This charming staging by Laurent Pelly, which bursts to life with the director’s characteristic wit and whimsy, stars American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato as the title outcast-turned-princess. Mezzo-soprano Alice Coote offers a touching portrayal of the pants role Prince Charming, while soprano Kathleen Kim shines as the Fairy Godmother. Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, as the outlandish Madame de la Haltière, and bass-baritone Laurent Naouri, as the haggard Pandolfe, round out the principal cast. On the podium, conductor Bertrand de Billy leads a performance that is equal parts madcap comedy and heartfelt romance.
For the 2018 revival of Sonja Frisell’s monumental production of Aida, the Met assembled a truly all-star cast. Soprano Anna Netrebko, one of her generation’s most compelling artists, takes on the title role for the first time at the Met, going toe to toe with powerhouse mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili as her rival, the conniving princess Amneris. Tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko is Radamès, the warrior that both women love, and Quinn Kelsey lends his robust baritone to Aida’s father, the fallen king Amonasro. Maestro Nicola Luisotti is on the podium to conduct this epic performance.
A towering biblical epic, Saint-Saëns’s operatic take on the story of Samson and Delilah has many of the hallmarks of grand opera—show-stopping vocal displays, thrilling choruses, and an engrossing plot set against a sweeping, pseudo-historical backdrop. It’s fitting, then, that Samson et Dalila has been chosen to celebrate the opening of the Met’s season four times in the company’s history, including when Darko Tresnjak’s bold new production premiered on the first night of the 2018–19 season. A few weeks later, the opera was shown as part of the Met’s series of live cinema transmissions, featuring an exceptional cast. Tenor Roberto Alagna was the heroic Samson, who ultimately falls victim to the seductive power of Dalila—the captivating mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča. Bass-baritone Laurent Naouri sang the sinister High Priest of Dagon, with conductor Sir Mark Elder on the podium.
Soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek sings Puccini’s gun-slinging heroine in this romantic epic of the Wild West, with the heralded return of tenor Jonas Kaufmann in the role of the outlaw she loves. Baritone Željko Lučić is the vigilante sheriff Jack Rance, and Marco Armiliato conducts. Production Giancarlo del Monaco. Jonas Kaufmann and Eva-Maria Westbroek star in the Puccini opera under maestro Marco Armiliato.
Composer Nico Muhly unveils his second new opera for the Met with this gripping re-imagining of Winston Graham’s novel, set in the 1950s, about a beautiful, mysterious young woman who assumes multiple identities. Director Michael Mayer and his creative team have devised a fast-moving, cinematic world for this exhilarating story of denial and deceit, which also inspired a film by Alfred Hitchcock. Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard sings the enigmatic Marnie, and baritone Christopher Maltman is the man who pursues her—with disastrous results. Robert Spano conducts.
Any new Met production of Verdi’s beloved tragedy La Traviata would be noteworthy, but Michael Mayer’s dazzling staging, which premiered during the 2018–19 season, was doubly significant as it marked Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s first performances as the Met’s Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director.
A gem of the verismo repertoire, Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur has only appeared a handful of times on the Met stage. When it has, however, it has often showcased some of opera’s greatest divas in the commanding title role, including Renata Tebaldi, Montserrat Caballé, and Renata Scotto.
When Sir Richard Eyre’s high-energy production of Bizet’s ever-popular Carmen had its Met premiere in 2009, it starred Roberto Alagna as Don José, the wayward officer whose desperate love for the title Gypsy proves their undoing. The French-Italian tenor reprised his celebrated portrayal during the 2018–19 season, including in this steamy Live in HD transmission that also showcased the alluring mezzo-soprano Clémentine Margaine as Carmen.
With one virtuosic vocal display after another, Donizetti’s charming romantic comedy has long served to showcase talented bel canto singers on the Met stage. This tradition continued during the 2018–19 Live in HD season, when soprano Pretty Yende and tenor Javier Camarena thrilled audiences as the smitten young lovers Marie and Tonio. Yende offers an exuberant portrayal as the titular “Daughter of the Regiment,” while Camarena serves up nine effortless high Cs in the opera’s famous aria “Ah! Mes amis … Pour mon âme”—a feat which he encores by popular demand. Enrique Mazzola conducts Laurent Pelly’s witty and heartwarming production, which also stars mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe as the overbearing Marquise of Berkenfield, bass-baritone Maurizio Muraro as Sgt. Sulpice, and award-winning actress Kathleen Turner in a featured cameo appearance as the Duchess of Krakenthorp.
Christine Goerke quickly has become one of the most electrifying dramatic sopranos currently appearing on the Met stage. The vocal powerhouse raised her artistry to the next level at the end of the 2018–19 season, singing the impetuous warrior maiden Brünnhilde in three full cycles of Richard Wagner’s epic Ring cycle.
Ever since John Dexter’s striking production marked the company premiere of Dialogues des Carmélites in 1977, Poulenc’s devastating masterpiece has been a favorite of Met audiences. To close out the 2018–19 season, Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin led a starry revival of the opera, which was also included as part of the Live in HD series of cinema transmissions.
In recent seasons, Christine Goerke has summited some of the greatest heights of the Germanic soprano repertoire, appearing as the Dyer’s Wife in Die Frau ohne Schatten, the title character of Elektra, and Brünnhilde in the complete Ring cycle.
Ever since graduating from the Met’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, Lisette Oropesa has had a meteoric career around the world, excelling in some of the pinnacles of the soprano repertoire. During the 2019–20 season, she returned to the Met stage to star in her largest role with the company to date, the irresistible heroine of Massenet’s Manon.
Anthony Minghella’s exquisite production—an instant classic at the Met since its 2006 premiere—provides an evocative setting for this tragedy about a noble but naive geisha awaiting the return of her American Navy lieutenant. Key to the staging are symbolic visuals that tap into traditional Japanese culture while honoring the searching, timeless beauty of Puccini’s mid-career masterpiece.
The last installment in Philip Glass’ “Portrait Trilogy,” Akhnaten follows the short seventeen-year reign of Amenhotep IV, who renamed himself Akhnaten meaning “of Aten.” The sun god, Aten, was the one god that Akhnaten believed in, making him one of the first ancient leaders to venture into monotheism. Star countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo is the title pharaoh, with the striking mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges in her Met debut as his wife, Nefertiti. To match the opera’s hypnotic, ritualistic music, director Phelim McDermott has created an arresting vision that includes a virtuosic company of acrobats and jugglers.
After wowing audiences with his astounding production of Lulu in 2015, South African artist William Kentridge now focuses his extraordinary visual imagination on Berg’s other operatic masterpiece, set in an apocalyptic pre–World War I environment. Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin is on the podium for this important event, with baritone Peter Mattei making his highly anticipated role debut as the title character. Soprano Elza van den Heever is Wozzeck’s unfaithful mate, and the commanding cast also includes tenor Christopher Ventris as the Drum-Major, bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as the Doctor, and tenor Gerhard Siegel as the Captain.
The Met made history in September 2019, kicking off its season with an explosive new staging of Porgy and Bess—returning the Gershwins’ great American opera to the company’s stage for the first time in nearly 30 years. In this radio broadcast from Opening Night, bass-baritone Eric Owens and soprano Angel Blue star in the title roles, leading a stellar ensemble cast. Among the other inhabitants of Catfish Row are the young couple Clara and Jake, sung by soprano Golda Schultz and bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green; the devout Serena, sung by soprano Latonia Moore; and the nefarious Sportin’ Life and Crown, sung by tenor Frederick Ballentine and bass-baritone Alfred Walker. And as the community matriarch Maria, veteran mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves delivers a scene-stealing performance. David Robertson conducts this beloved score, which includes a number of tunes that have become classic American standards.
Handel’s tale of intrigue and impropriety in ancient Rome receives its first Met performances, with star mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato as the controlling, power-hungry Agrippina and Harry Bicket conducting. Sir David McVicar’s production ingeniously reframes the action of this black comedy about the abuse of power to “the present,” where it should loudly resonate. The all-star cast features mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey as Agrippina’s son and future emperor Nerone, soprano Brenda Rae as the seductive Poppea, countertenor Iestyn Davies as the ambitious officer Ottone, and bass Matthew Rose as the weary emperor Claudius.
In François Girard’s stirring new production of Der Fliegende Holländer, celebrated conductor Valery Gergiev is on the podium for Wagner’s breakout operatic masterpiece, an eerie ghost story about the otherworldly Flying Dutchman. Having already sung a number of the composer’s works at the Met, bass-baritone Evgeny Nikitin delivers a commanding performance in the title role, opposite soprano Anja Kampe in her debut season as Senta. The thrilling cast also stars tenor Sergey Skorokhodov as Erik, bass Franz-Josef Selig as Daland, mezzo-soprano Mihoko Fujimura as Mary, and tenor David Portillo as the Steersman.
Following a historic 18-month closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Met returned to live performances in the opera house on September 11, 2021, with an unforgettable concert of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, presented in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the company’s dynamic Music Director, took the podium to lead this moving musical event, which showcased the full forces of the Met Orchestra and Chorus and featured a quartet of compelling soloists—soprano Ailyn Pérez, mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung, tenor Matthew Polenzani, and bass-baritone Eric Owens. From the somber opening bars to the anguished cries for salvation in the final “Libera me,” the performance was both a touching tribute and a stirring reminder of the power of music even in the most challenging times.
Bass René Pape, the world’s reigning Boris, reprises his overwhelming portrayal of the tortured tsar caught between grasping ambition and crippling paranoia, kicking off the Live in HD season on October 9, 2021. Conductor Sebastian Weigle leads Mussorgsky’s masterwork, a pillar of the Russian repertoire, in its original 1869 version. Stephen Wadsworth’s affecting production poignantly captures the hope and suffering of the Russian people as well as the tsar himself.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Grammy Award–winning jazz musician and composer Terence Blanchard’s adaptation of Charles M. Blow’s moving memoir, which The New York Times praised after its 2019 world premiere at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as “bold and affecting” and “subtly powerful.” The first opera by a Black composer presented on the Met stage and featuring a libretto by filmmaker Kasi Lemmons, the opera tells a poignant and profound story about a young man’s journey to overcome a life of trauma and hardship. James Robinson and Camille A. Brown—two of the creators of the Met’s sensational recent production of Porgy and Bess—co-direct this new staging, which appears in cinemas on October 23. Baritone Will Liverman, one of opera’s most exciting young artists, stars as Charles, alongside soprano Angel Blue as Destiny/Loneliness/Greta, soprano Latonia Moore as Billie, and Walter Russell III as Char’es-Baby.
The ancient Greek myth of Orpheus, who attempts to harness the power of music to rescue his beloved Eurydice from the underworld, has inspired composers since opera’s earliest days. Brilliant American composer Matthew Aucoin now carries that tradition into the 21st century with a captivating new take on the story—a product of the Met’s commissioning program. With a libretto by Sarah Ruhl, adapted from her acclaimed 2003 play, the opera reimagines the familiar tale from Eurydice’s point of view. Yannick Nézet-Séguin oversees the December 4 transmission, leading Aucoin’s evocative music and an immersive new staging by Mary Zimmerman. Soprano Erin Morley sings the title role, opposite baritone Joshua Hopkins as Orpheus and countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński as his otherworldly alter-ego. Bass-baritone Nathan Berg is Eurydice’s father and fellow resident of the underworld, with tenor Barry Banks as Hades himself.
Having triumphed at the Met in some of the repertory’s fiercest soprano roles, Sondra Radvanovsky stars as the mythic sorceress who will stop at nothing in her quest for vengeance.
Soprano Nadine Sierra stars as the self-sacrificing courtesan Violetta—one of opera’s ultimate heroines—in Michael Mayer’s vibrant production of Verdi’s beloved tragedy.
Soprano Renée Fleming makes her highly anticipated return to the Met in the world-premiere production of Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Kevin Puts’s The Hours, adapted from Michael Cunningham’s acclaimed novel.
Umberto Giordano’s exhilarating drama returns to the Met repertory for the first time in 25 years. Packed with memorable melodies, showstopping arias, and explosive confrontations, Fedora requires a cast of thrilling voices to take flight, and the Met’s new production promises to deliver.
Wagner’s soaring masterpiece makes its triumphant return to the Met stage after 17 years. In a sequel to his revelatory production of Parsifal, director François Girard unveils an atmospheric staging that once again weds his striking visual style and keen dramatic insight to Wagner’s breathtaking music.
Baritone Michael Volle stars as the caddish knight Falstaff, gleefully tormented by a trio of clever women who deliver his comeuppance, in Verdi’s glorious Shakespearean comedy.
A dream cast assembles for Strauss’s grand Viennese comedy. Soprano Lise Davidsen is the aristocratic Marschallin, opposite mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard as her lover, Octavian, and soprano Erin Morley as Sophie, the beautiful younger woman who steals his heart.
Six-time Grammy Award–winning composer Terence Blanchard brings his first opera to the Met after his Fire Shut Up in My Bones triumphantly premiered with the company to universal acclaim in 2021.
Tony Award–winning director Ivo van Hove makes a major Met debut with a new take on Mozart’s tragicomedy, re-setting the familiar tale of deceit and damnation in an abstract architectural landscape and shining a light into the dark corners of the story and its characters.
One of opera’s most beloved works receives its first new Met staging in 19 years—a daring vision by renowned English director Simon McBurney that The Wall Street Journal declared “the best production I’ve ever witnessed of Mozart’s opera.”
The Met’s first-ever Live in HD transmission—the abridged, English-language version of Mozart's The Magic Flute—returns to cinemas this holiday season.
Engrossing look behind the scenes as ten contenders vie for a spot on the Met's roster.
Members of the Met Orchestra play and discuss some of the musical themes and motifs from Wagner's "Ring" cycle. 2010-11 season.
The stakes could not be higher as visionary director Robert Lepage, the world’s greatest singers, and the Metropolitan Opera tackle Wagner’s Ring cycle. An intimate look at the enormous theatrical and musical challenges of staging opera’s most monumental work, the film chronicles the quest to fulfill Wagner’s dream of a perfect Ring.
This incredible look at the preparation and production of a Live in HD cinema transmission takes you behind the scenes of the new Cav/Pag with the HD director, host, stars, and crew for an up-close view of the exciting process behind the Met's extraordinary HD presentations. Performance date: April 25, 2015.
In this documentary, award-winning filmmaker Susan Froemke explores the creation of the Metropolitan Opera’s storied home of the last five decades. Drawing on rarely seen archival footage, stills, and recent interviews, The Opera House looks at an important period of the Met’s history and delves into some of the untold stories of the artists, architects, and politicians who shaped the cultural life of New York City in the ’50s and ’60s. Among the notable figures in the film are famed soprano Leontyne Price, who opened the new Met in 1966 in Samuel Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra; Rudolf Bing, the Met’s imperious General Manager who engineered the move from the old house to the new one; Robert Moses, the unstoppable city planner who bulldozed an entire neighborhood to make room for Lincoln Center; and Wallace Harrison, whose quest for architectural glory was never fully realized.
In March 2020, the Met made the difficult decision to cancel the remainder of its 2019–20 season, due to the escalating COVID-19 pandemic. But rather than leave opera fans wanting for great performances, the company instead began streaming free nightly encore presentations of past Live in HD transmissions online. As part of these efforts to keep opera alive during the closure, the Met also presented an unprecedented live At-Home Gala on April 25. Hosted by General Manager Peter Gelb in New York and Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin in Montreal, the virtual event brought together more than 40 of opera's greatest artists to perform from their homes in 14 countries.
From a Norwegian castle to an Italian chapel and from a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean Sea to Vienna’s Spanish Riding School, each performance was streamed via satellite and shot with multiple cameras. Jonas Kaufmann, one of opera’s most in-demand tenors, kicked off the series at Bavaria’s magnificent Polling Abbey with a program of heroic arias, accompanied by pianist Helmut Deutsch.
Beloved American soprano Renée Fleming sang a ravishing program of arias and songs from Washington, D.C.’s historic Dumbarton Oaks estate. Accompanied by pianist Robert Ainsley, Fleming opened the concert with “And the People Stayed Home,” a new composition written especially for her by John Corigliano, before offering a wide-ranging program that included music by Handel, Massenet, Brahms, Richard Strauss, and more. With works by a dozen composers spanning more than 275 years of music, the concert was a touching reminder that the power of art continues to shine bright, even during the darkest of times.
From a stunning outdoor terrace in Èze, France, against a sunset backdrop overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, the dynamic duo sang a program of favorite arias and duets, including selections from Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, Verdi’s Otello, and Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana—as well as some popular songs like the Neapolitan classic “Funiculì, Funiculà.” Accompanied by members of the Morphing Chamber Orchestra, Alagna and Kurzak gave thousands of opera lovers around the world a much-needed escape from the ongoing health crisis.
Performing live from Oslo’s Oscarshall summer palace to audiences around the globe, she joined pianist James Baillieu for a triumphant program of operatic arias, Scandinavian songs, and more. Opening with excerpts from Wagner’s Tannhäuser, Davidsen offered touching selections by Grieg and Sibelius, before diving into some of the most formidable heroines of the dramatic soprano repertoire—Amelia in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera and the title roles of Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos and Puccini’s Manon Lescaut. The concert then moved on to a collection of Strauss lieder, ultimately ending on a high note with some lighter fare by Britten, Kálmán, Lerner and Loewe, and others.
Accompanied by pianist Carrie-Ann Matheson and longtime collaborators, Baroque ensemble Il Pomo d’Oro, from a truly remarkable venue: a former German industrial pavilion now used for theatrical events. Entitled “I Dream A World,” the concert spanned nearly four centuries of music—from Monteverdi and Handel to Mozart, Berlioz, and even a premiere by Kenyatta Hughes—and offered a message of hope and consolation to a world in crisis.
Accompanied by pianist Roberto Moreschi, the exceptional duo performed a program of favorite arias and duets, many taken from operas that they have not yet sung with the company. Opening with excerpts from Puccini’s Tosca—which were perfectly complemented by the concert’s venue, the magnificent Baroque Cappella Palatina of Italy’s Royal Palace of Caserta—Damrau and Calleja then moved on to popular selections by Donizetti, Verdi, Rossini, and Bizet. Then, after Damrau dazzled with an aria from Kálmán’s operetta Gräfin Mariza, the pair regaled viewers with the popular songs “Granada” and “Non ti scordar di me” and closed their performance with a moving rendition of Gounod’s setting of the Ave Maria.
Appearing from the august Great Hall of Germany’s Historische Staddhalle Wuppertal, soprano Sondra Radvanovsky and tenor Piotr Beczała sang a program packed with thrilling arias and duets, including excerpts from Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera, Dvořák’s Rusalka, Giordano’s Andrea Chénier, and much more. Celebrated accompanist Vincenzo Scalera was the piano for this breathtaking concert event.
From the historic Spanish Riding School at Vienna’s Hofburg Palace. Accompanied by longtime collaborator Pavel Nebolsin on the piano, the celebrated soprano offered a program of ravishing Russian songs, operatic arias, and music by Strauss, Debussy, Fauré, and more. Later on in the evening, mezzo-soprano Elena Maximova joined Netrebko for a pair of duets from Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades and Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann. For Met audiences familiar with Netrebko’s gutsy portrayals of opera’s most formidable heroines, this concert offered a more intimate look at one of today’s most extraordinary talents.
From the ornate library of Germany’s Schussenried Cloister. Showing off her remarkable artistry across the entire operatic repertory, Sonya Yoncheva offered a program packed with popular soprano arias encompassing more than 250 years of music. The dazzling vocal display, accompanied by pianist Julien Quentin, featured favorite excerpts by Verdi, Puccini, Dvořák, Massenet, and Bizet—as well as a pair of poignant Baroque selections and Édith Piaf’s classic ballad “Hymne à l’amour.” As Yoncheva said at the performance’s close, it was a concert inspired by love and one that she hoped would help unite music lovers throughout the world.
At Germany’s Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, sopranos Christine Goerke and Elza van den Heever, tenor Andreas Schager, and baritone Michael Volle came together for a concert of music by Wagner and Strauss, accompanied by Grammy Award–winner Craig Terry at the piano. Featuring some of the repertory’s most soaring arias and duets, the program included selections from Der Fliegende Holländer, Das Rheingold, Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, Die Walküre, and Parsifal, as well as a pair of Strauss songs and Wagner’s complete Wesendonck Lieder. And as if the evening wasn’t thrilling enough, the performance was capped by a suitably grand finale: the uplifting conclusion from Die Frau ohne Schatten.
Three of opera’s leading lights come together amid the regal splendor of the Royal Opera of Versailles. Sopranos Ailyn Pérez and Nadine Sierra joined mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard for a dazzling program of arias, duets, and trios. Accompanied by pianist Vlad Iftinca, the concert featured favorite operatic selections by Gounod, Mozart, Bellini, Strauss, and more, as well as some enchanting Spanish songs featuring special guest Pablo Sáinz-Villegas on guitar.
Sir Bryn Terfel joins some of his closest musical friends live from Brecon Cathedral in his native Wales. In addition to the beloved bass-baritone, the starry lineup of performers featured soprano Natalya Romaniw, tenor Trystan Llŷr Griffiths, the Welsh folk group Calan, pianist Jeff Howard, and Terfel’s wife, harpist Hannah Stone.
As part of the Met Stars Live in Concert series, sopranos Angel Blue and Pretty Yende and tenors Javier Camarena and Matthew Polenzani came together at the Parktheater in Augsburg, Germany, to perform a program packed with popular operatic excerpts. Accompanied by pianist Cécile Restier and the Vienna Morphing Quintet, the evening featured arias and ensembles by Donizetti, Puccini, Rossini, Verdi, and more—as well as some festive Italian songs.
Following a historic 18-month closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Met returned to live performances in the opera house on September 11, 2021, with an unforgettable concert of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, presented in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the company’s dynamic Music Director, took the podium to lead this moving musical event, which showcased the full forces of the Met Orchestra and Chorus and featured a quartet of compelling soloists—soprano Ailyn Pérez, mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung, tenor Matthew Polenzani, and bass-baritone Eric Owens.
