THOMAS ADES 2012-2013 HD OPERA SEASON NOVEMBER 10, 2012 @ 12:55 PM RUN TIME: 3 HRS British composer Thomas Adès makes his company debut conducting the Met premiere of his opera The Tempest, which has been widely praised as a modern masterpiece. Robert Lepage’s innovative production recreates the interior of the La Scala opera house as […]

GAETANO DONIZETTI 2012-2013 HD OPERA SEASON OCTOBER 13, 2012 @ 12:55 PM RUN TIME: 3 HRS The Live in HD season begins October 13 with a new production of Donizetti’s comic gem L’Elisir d’Amore, directed by Bartlett Sher and conducted by Maurizio Benini. Anna Netrebko makes her Met role debut as the beautiful landowner Adina, […]

GAETANO DONIZETTI 2010-2011 HD OPERA SEASON JULY 18, 2012 @ 7:00 PM RUN TIME: 3 HRS 35 MIN Anna Netrebko sings the title role of Donizetti’s fragile heroine in her Met role debut, with tenor Piotr Beczala in the part of her lover, Edgardo. Baritone Mariusz Kwiecien is her tyrannical brother. Mary Zimmerman’s hit production […]

GIUSEPPE VERDI 2011-2012 HD OPERA SEASON APRIL 14, 2012 @ 12:55 PM RUN TIME: 3 HRS 5 MIN Natalie Dessay puts on the red dress in Willy Decker’s stunning production, in her first Violetta at the Met. Matthew Polenzani sings Alfredo, Dimitri Hvorostovsky is Germont, and Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi is on the podium. Text courtesy […]

JULES MASSENET 2011-2012 HD OPERA SEASON APRIL 7, 2012 @ 12:00 PM RUN TIME: 4 HRS 5 MIN Laurent Pelly’s new production stars Anna Netrebko as the free-spirited beauty Manon Lescaut in Puccini’s first hit opera. The story of the magnetic attraction between two young lovers is the perfect vehicle for the soprano’s exhilarating charisma, especially when […]

GIUSEPPE VERDI 2011-2012 HD OPERA SEASON FEBRUARY 25, 2012 @ 12:55 PM RUN TIME: 3 HRS 50 MIN Angela Meade takes center stage in Verdi’s thrilling early gem. Marcello Giordani is her mismatched lover, and all-star Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Ferruccio Furlanetto round out the cast. CONDUCTOR Marco Armiliato PRODUCTION: Pie Luigi Samaritani CAST: Angela Meade, Marcello […]

RICHARD WAGNER 2011-2012 HD OPERA SEASON FEBRUARY 11, 2012 @ 12:00PM RUN TIME: 6 HRS Original transmission date: Saturday, February 11, 2012 With its cataclysmic climax, the Met’s new Ring cycle, directed by Robert Lepage, comes to its resolution. Deborah Voigt stars as Brünnhilde and Jay Hunter Morris is Siegfried—the star-crossed lovers doomed by fate.  Fabio Luisi Conducts. Text courtesy […]

GEORGE FRIDRICH HANDEL, ANTONIO VIVALDI, JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU DEVISED AND WRITTEN BY JEREMY SAMS 2011-2012 HD OPERA SEASON JANUARY 21, 2012 @ 12:55 PM RUN TIME: 3 HRS 35 MIN In one extraordinary new work, lovers of Baroque opera have it all: the world’s best singers, glorious music of the Baroque masters, and a story drawn […]

CHARLES GOUNOD 2011-2012 HD OPERA SEASON DECEMBER 10, 2011 @ 12:55 PM RUN TIME: 3 HRS 39 MIN With Jonas Kaufmann in the title role, René Pape as the devil, and Marina Poplavskaya as Marguerite, Gounod’s classic retelling of the Faust legend couldn’t be better served.  Tony Award-winning director Dec McAnuff updates the story to […]

GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL 2011-2012 HD OPERA SEASON DECEMBER 3, 2011 @ 12:30PM RUN TIME: 3 HRS 51 MIN Sensational in the 2004 Met premiere of Stephen Wadsworth’s much-heralded production, Renée Fleming reprises the title role. She’s joined by Stephanie Blythe and countertenor Andreas Scholl. Baroque specialist Harry Bicket conducts. Text courtesy of The Metropolitan Opera website:  http://www.metopera.org CONDUCTOR: […]

PHILIP GLASS 2011-2012 HD OPERA SEASON NOVEMBER 19, 2011 @ 12:55 PM RUN TIME: 3 HRS 45 MIN The Met’s visually extravagant production returned for its second season.  Richard Croft once again is Gandhi in Philip Glass’s unforgettable opera, which the Washington Post calls “a profound and beauitful work of theater.” Satyagraha features minimal subtitles.  Composer Philip Glass […]

RICHARD WAGNER 2011-2012 HD OPERA SEASON NOVEMBER  5, 2011 @ 12:00 PM RUN TIME: 5 HRS 29 MIN In part three of the Ring, Wagner’s cosmic vision focuses on his hero’s early conquests while Robert Lepage’s revolutionary stage machine transforms itself from bewitched forest to mountaintop love nest. Jay Hunter Morris sings the title role and Deborah Voigt’s Brünnhilde […]

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART 2011-2012 HD OPERA SEASON OCTOBER 29, 2011 @ 1PM RUN TIME: 3 HRS 27 MIN Fabio Luisi conducts Tony Award-winning director Michael Grandage’s new production, featuring an all-star cast including Marina Rebeka, Barbara Frittoli, Ramón Vargas, and Luca Pisaroni. Text courtesy of The Metropolitan Opera website:  http://www.metopera.org CONDUCTOR: Fabio Luisi; PRODUCTION: Michael Grandage CAST: […]

GAETANO DONIZETTI 2011-2012 HD OPERA SEASON OCTOBER 15, 2011 @ 12:55 PM RUN TIME: 3 HRS 33 MIN Anna Netrebko gives an electrifying portrayal of the ill-fated queen driven insane by her unfaithful king in this Met premiere production by David McVicar.  Ekaterina Gubanova is her rival, Jane Seymour, Ildar Abrdazakov sings Henry VIII, and […]

RICHARD WAGNER 2010-2011 HD OPERA SEASON MAY 14, 2011 @ 12:00 PM RUN TIME: 5 HRS 10 MIN A stellar cast comes together for this second installment of Robert Lepage’s new production of the Ring cycle, conducted by James Levine. Bryn Terfel is Wotan, lord of the Gods. Deborah Voigt adds the part of Brünnhilde to her […]

GIOACHINO ROSSINI 2010-2011 HD OPERA SEASON APRIL 9, 2011 @ 1:00 PM RUN TIME: 2 HRS 45 MIN Rossini’s vocally dazzling comedy stars bel canto sensation Juan Diego Flórez in the title role of this Met premiere production. He vies with mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, in the trouser role of Isolier, for the love of the […]

CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD GLUCK 2010-2011 HD OPERA SEASON FEBRUARY 26, 2011 @ 1:00 PM RUN TIME: 2 HRS 25 MIN Susan Graham and Plácido Domingo reprise their starring roles in Gluck’s nuanced and elegant interpretation of this primal Greek myth. Tenor Paul Groves also returns to Stephen Wadsworth’s insightful production, first seen in 2007. Patrick Summers […]

GIUSEPPE VERDI 2010-2011 HD OPERA SEASON DECEMBER 11, 2010 @ 1PM RUN TIME: 4 HRS 45 MIN Nicholas Hytner’s new production “earned an enthusiastic ovation.” Marina Poplavskaya, with her “luminous singing, beautiful pianissimo high notes and unforced power” is a “noble, elegant Elisabeth.” Roberto Alagna’s singing is “poignant,” and Yannick Nézet-Séguin brings “youthful passion and […]

GAETANO DONIZETTI 2010-2011 HD OPERA SEASON NOVEMBER 13, 2010 @ 1:00 PM RUN TIME: 3 HRS 10 MIN Anna Netrebko revives her sensational turn in this sophisticated bel canto comedy, opposite Matthew Polenzani, Mariusz Kwiecien, and John Del Carlo in the title role. Music Director James Levine conducts. When Otto Schenk’s production premiered in 2006, […]

RICHARD WAGNER 2010-2011 HD OPERA SEASON OCTOBER 9, 2010 @ 1:00 PM RUN TIME: 3 HRS 10 MIN Two unparalleled artists join forces for the first installment of the Met’s groundbreaking new Ring: Maestro James Levine and director Robert Lepage.  “The Ring is not just a story or a series of operas, it’s a cosmos,” says Lepage, […]

GIOACHINO ROSSINI 2009-2010 HD OPERA SEASON MAY 1, 2010 @ 1:00 PM RUN TIME: 3 HRS 50 MIN 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, […]

GIUSEPPE VERDI 2009-2010 HD OPERA SEASON FEBRUARY 6, 2010 @ 1:00 PM RUN TIME: 3 HRS 20 MIN 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 […]

GEORGES BIZET 2009-2010 HD OPERA SEASON JANUARY 16, 2010 @ 1:00 PM RUN TIME: 3 HRS 10 MIN 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 […]

RICHARD STRAUSS 2009-2010 HD OPERA SEASON JANUARY 9, 2010 @ 1:00 PM RUN TIME: 4 HRS 15 MIN 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 […]

JACQUES OFFENBACH 2009-2010 HD OPERA SEASON DECEMBER 19, 2009 @ 1PM RUN TIME: 3 HRS 35 MIN 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 […]

GIACOMO PUCCINI 2009-2010 HD OPERA SEASON NOVEMBER  7, 2009 @ 1:00 PM RUN TIME: 3 HRS 5 MIN 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 […]

GIUSEPPE VERDI 2009-2010  HD OPERA SEASON OCTOBER 24, 2009 @ 6:00 PM RUN TIME: 4 HRS 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 […]

GIACOMO PUCCINI 2009-2010 HD OPERA SEASON OCTOBER 10, 2009 @ 1:00 PM RUN TIME: 3 HRS 35 MIN 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 […]