DER ROSENKAVALIER:Strauss
Rattle; Nylund, Kožená, Schultz, Goeldner, Polenzani, Ebenstein, Eiche, Groissböck
Original Air Date: 01/04/2020
SID.20010639
Robert Carsen’s splendid staging returns for the first time since its blockbuster 2017 premiere, with Sir Simon Rattle on the podium to conduct Strauss’s glittering score. Star soprano Camilla Nylund is the worldly Marschallin, with the outstanding mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená as her exuberant young lover, Octavian. Bass Günther Groissböck reprises his definitive take on the lascivious Baron Ochs, and rising soprano Golda Schultz sings the innocent Sophie. A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera; Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London; Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires; and Teatro Regio di Torino
THAÏS:Massenet
López-Cobos; Fleming, Hampson, Schade
Original Air Date: 12/20/2008
Live in HDMOD Video
SID.20020214
Although the video has been available almost continuously on MOoD, I find this performance preferable to the Sills Milnes, which was massively overplayed in the first years of Sirius Radio. I rather like Thais as a break from other titles in the repertory.Although the video has been available almost continuously on MOoD, I find this performance preferable to the Sills Milnes, which was massively overplayed in the first years of Sirius Radio. I rather like Thais as a break from other titles in the repertory.
WOZZECK:Berg
Yannick Nézet-Séguin: Peter Mattei, Elza van den Heever, Gerhard Siegel, Christian Van Horn
Original Air Date: 01/11/2020
Live in HD
SID.20020640
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.
A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera; Salzburg Festival; the Canadian Opera Company, Toronto; and Opera Australia
Production a gift of Robert L. Turner
THE FIRST EMPEROR:Dun
Dun; Domingo, Futral, Groves, Tian, DeYoung
Original Air Date: 01/13/2007
Live in HDMOD Video
SID.20030101
This is Domingo’s vehicle and the broadcast and HD performance from its premiere season. Sony issued a commercial DVD. Better to watch than listen to. I enjoyed seeing the production, and while it’s not on my weekly rotation, it held my interest more than Glass’ The Voyage. The simultaneous broadcast/HD moviecast is available on commercial DVD and MOoD (Metropolitan Opera on Demand).
MANON:Massenet
Luisi; Netrebko, Beczala, Szot
Original Air Date: 04/07/2012
MOD Video
SID.20030105
This audio was the first time the Met has rebroadcast the audio track of a Live in HD. This was a bit of a breakout part for Beczala who had slimmed down and certainly made an effective foil for the Netrebko Manon. I enjoyed her in the theatre even if she were no Patricia Brooks , or Faith Esham (both at City Opera, Wagner broadcast, and for me both better than the very good and much more famous Manon it finds him far from his two decade mastery of Sills.) When I want to listen to Manon, I need go no further than the early 19250s recording on EMI with Victoria de los Angeles and Henri LeGay under Pierre Monteux. Sirius does play the 1954 Met performance with VDLA and Cesare Valletti also under Monteux (and is available on MOoD). Still unbroadcast is the 1959 with VDLA and Gedda under Jean Morel. Wagner.
THE BARTERED BRIDE:Smetana
Levine; Stratas, Gedda, Talvela, Vickers
Original Air Date: 12/02/1978
MOD Video
SID.20030212
This same cast telecast the opera 11 days earlier. The video of this performance is available in MOoD. Levine is very devoted to this score and did the joint production with Juilliard and the Met Young Artists in 2010. Vickers is cast very much against type and successful. To me one of the main downers is Talvela. My aural image of this opera is forever colored by the German language studio recording with Lorengar, Wunderlich, and Frick. Though in the “wrong” language, everything works there.
MANON:Massenet
Luisi; Netrebko, Beczala, Szot
Original Air Date: 04/07/2012
MOD Video
SID.20030317
This audio was the first time the Met has rebroadcast the audio track of a Live in HD. This was a bit of a breakout part for Beczala who had slimmed down and certainly made an effective foil for the Netrebko Manon. I enjoyed her in the theatre even if she were no Patricia Brooks , or Faith Esham (both at City Opera, Wagner broadcast, and for me both better than the very good and much more famous Manon it finds him far from his two decade mastery of Sills.) When I want to listen to Manon, I need go no further than the early 19250s recording on EMI with Victoria de los Angeles and Henri LeGay under Pierre Monteux. Sirius does play the 1954 Met performance with VDLA and Cesare Valletti also under Monteux (and is available on MOoD). Still unbroadcast is the 1959 with VDLA and Gedda under Jean Morel. Wagner.
THE BARTERED BRIDE:Smetana
Levine; Stratas, Gedda, Talvela, Vickers
Original Air Date: 12/02/1978
MOD Video
SID.20030428
This same cast telecast the opera 11 days earlier. The video of this performance is available in MOoD. Levine is very devoted to this score and did the joint production with Juilliard and the Met Young Artists in 2010. Vickers is cast very much against type and successful. To me one of the main downers is Talvela. My aural image of this opera is forever colored by the German language studio recording with Lorengar, Wunderlich, and Frick. Though in the “wrong” language, everything works there.
THE BARTERED BRIDE:Smetana
Levine; Stratas, Gedda, Talvela, Vickers
Original Air Date: 12/02/1978
MOD Video
SID.20030531
This same cast telecast the opera 11 days earlier. The video of this performance is available in MOoD. Levine is very devoted to this score and did the joint production with Juilliard and the Met Young Artists in 2010. Vickers is cast very much against type and successful. To me one of the main downers is Talvela. My aural image of this opera is forever colored by the German language studio recording with Lorengar, Wunderlich, and Frick. Though in the “wrong” language, everything works there.
MANON:Massenet
Luisi; Netrebko, Beczala, Szot
Original Air Date: 04/07/2012
MOD Video
SID.20030535
This audio was the first time the Met has rebroadcast the audio track of a Live in HD. This was a bit of a breakout part for Beczala who had slimmed down and certainly made an effective foil for the Netrebko Manon. I enjoyed her in the theatre even if she were no Patricia Brooks , or Faith Esham (both at City Opera, Wagner broadcast, and for me both better than the very good and much more famous Manon it finds him far from his two decade mastery of Sills.) When I want to listen to Manon, I need go no further than the early 19250s recording on EMI with Victoria de los Angeles and Henri LeGay under Pierre Monteux. Sirius does play the 1954 Met performance with VDLA and Cesare Valletti also under Monteux (and is available on MOoD). Still unbroadcast is the 1959 with VDLA and Gedda under Jean Morel. Wagner.
LA TRAVIATA:Verdi
Chichon; Kurzak, Popov, Kelsey
Original Air Date: 01/18/2020
SID.20030639
Michael Mayer’s sumptuous staging, a highlight of the 2018–19 season, returns with two casts of bright stars. Sopranos Aleksandra Kurzak and Lisette Oropesa share the role of Violetta, the opera’s tragic heroine, opposite tenors Dmytro Popov and Piero Pretti as her ardent lover, Alfredo, and baritones Quinn Kelsey and Luca Salsi as Alfredo’s stern father, Germont. Karel Mark Chichon and Bertrand de Billy conduct one of opera’s greatest scores.
FIRST INTERMISSION
Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera Quiz
Host: Brian Zeger
Guest: Elīna Garanča
Panelists: Ken Benson, George Preston, and
Melanie Spector
Pianist: Bénédicte Jourdois
SECOND INTERMISSION
Backstage Pass – Loren Toolajian interviews Aleksandra Kurzak
Porgy and Bess Feature
THE FIRST EMPEROR:Dun
Dun; Domingo, Futral, Groves, Tian, DeYoung
Original Air Date: 01/13/2007
Live in HDMOD Video
SID.20040316
This is Domingo’s vehicle and the broadcast and HD performance from its premiere season. Sony issued a commercial DVD. Better to watch than listen to. I enjoyed seeing the production, and while it’s not on my weekly rotation, it held my interest more than Glass’ The Voyage. The simultaneous broadcast/HD moviecast is available on commercial DVD and MOoD (Metropolitan Opera on Demand).
THE FIRST EMPEROR:Dun
Dun; Domingo, Futral, Groves, Tian, DeYoung
Original Air Date: 01/13/2007
Live in HDMOD Video
SID.20040636
This is Domingo’s vehicle and the broadcast and HD performance from its premiere season. Sony issued a commercial DVD. Better to watch than listen to. I enjoyed seeing the production, and while it’s not on my weekly rotation, it held my interest more than Glass’ The Voyage. The simultaneous broadcast/HD moviecast is available on commercial DVD and MOoD (Metropolitan Opera on Demand).
LA BOHÈME:Puccini
Armiliato; Pérez, Kulchynska, Polenzani, Bizic, Zhilikhovsky, Park, Woodley
Original Air Date: 01/25/2020
SID.20040640
Three casts of captivating artists bring Puccini’s classic tragedy of bohemian friends and lovers to life in Franco Zeffirelli’s immortal staging. Tenors Matthew Polenzani, Roberto Alagna, and Joseph Calleja trade off as the exuberant Rodolfo, alongside sopranos Ailyn Pérez, Hei-Kyung Hong, and Maria Agresta as the fragile Mimì. Marco Armiliato and Emmanuel Villaume share conducting duties.
First Intermission
Backstage Pass #1 – Loren Toolajian interviews Ailyn Pérez and Matthew Polenzani
Mary Jo Heath interviews Maestro Edward Gardner about La Damnation de Faust
Second Intermission
Backstage Pass #2 – Loren Toolajian interviews Olga Kulchynska and David Bizic
THE FIRST EMPEROR:Dun
Dun; Domingo, Futral, Groves, Tian, DeYoung
Original Air Date: 01/13/2007
Live in HDMOD Video
SID.20040749
This is Domingo’s vehicle and the broadcast and HD performance from its premiere season. Sony issued a commercial DVD. Better to watch than listen to. I enjoyed seeing the production, and while it’s not on my weekly rotation, it held my interest more than Glass’ The Voyage. The simultaneous broadcast/HD moviecast is available on commercial DVD and MOoD (Metropolitan Opera on Demand).
PORGY AND BESS : Gershwins
Original Air Date: 02/01/2020
Robertson; Blue, Schultz, Moore, Graves, Ballentine, Owens, Walker, Singletary
SID.20050000
Single Intermission
Backstage Pass – HD Host Audra McDonald interviews Angel Blue and
Eric Owens
Mary Jo Hearth interviews Joyce DiDonato about Agrippina
Mary Jo Hearth interviews Anita Hartig about Le Nozze di Figaro
Backstage Pass – HD Host Audra McDonald interviews Latonia Moore,
Golda Schultz, and Denyce Graves
Backstage Pass – HD Host Audra McDonald interviews
Frederick Ballentine and Alfred Walker
PORGY AND BESS: Gershwins
Original Air Date: 02/01/2020
David Robertson: Eric Owens, Angel Blue, Denyce Graves, Latonia Moore, Frederick Ballentine, Alfred Walker, Golda Schultz
Live in HD SID.20050600
Single Intermission
Backstage Pass – HD Host Audra McDonald interviews Angel Blue and
Eric Owens
Mary Jo Hearth interviews Joyce DiDonato about Agrippina
Mary Jo Hearth interviews Anita Hartig about Le Nozze di Figaro
Backstage Pass – HD Host Audra McDonald interviews Latonia Moore,
Golda Schultz, and Denyce Graves
Backstage Pass – HD Host Audra McDonald interviews
Frederick Ballentine and Alfred Walker
LA DAMNATION DE FAUST:Berlioz
Gardner; Garanca, Spyres, Abdrazakov
Original Air Date: 02/08/2020
SID.20060640
Single Intermission
Backstage Pass – Loren Toolajian interviews Michael Spyres
Backstage Pass – Loren Toolajian interviews Elīna Garanča and
Ildar Abrazakov (TBC)
Mary Jo Hearth interviews Brenda Rae about Agrippina
MANON Massenet
Benini: Oropesa, Fabiano, Bosi, Rucinski, Polegato, Youn
OAD 9/24/2019 SID.19390212
Program
Exhilarating soprano Lisette Oropesa stars as the irresistible title character, the tragic beauty who yearns for the finer things in life, in Laurent Pelly’s revealing production. Tenor Michael Fabiano is the besotted Chevalier des Grieux, whose desperate love for Manon proves their undoing. Maurizio Benini conducts Massenet’s sensual score.
A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera; Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London; Teatro alla Scala, Milan; and Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse Production a gift of The Sybil B. Harrington Endowment Fund
VICTORY LAP Interview with Lisette Oropesa from metopera.org
First Intermission
Backstage Pass #1 – Mary Jo Heath interviews Lisette Oropesa
Agrippina Feature with Maestro Harry Bicket
Second Intermission
Backstage Pass #2 – Mary Jo Heath interviews Michael Fabiano
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA:Rossini
Benini; Mattei, DiDonato, Flórez, Del Carlo, Relyea
Original Air Date: 03/24/2007
Live in HDMOD Video
SID.20080317
This is a simulcast of the first season Live in HD videocast. It’s the only matinee broadcast appearance of Mattei, DiDonato and Florez together, and they are a splendid trio.
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA:Rossini
Benini; Mattei, DiDonato, Flórez, Del Carlo, Relyea
Original Air Date: 03/24/2007
Live in HDMOD Video
SID.20080533
This is a simulcast of the first season Live in HD videocast. It’s the only matinee broadcast appearance of Mattei, DiDonato and Florez together, and they are a splendid trio.
LE NOZZE DI FIGARO:Mozart
Meister; Woodbury, Müller, Crebassa, McCormick, Dupuis, Plachetka, Muraro
Original Air Date: 02/22/2020
SID.20080640
Two outstanding casts—including sopranos Nadine Sierra, Anita Hartig, Susanna Phillips, and Hanna-Elisabeth Müller; mezzo-sopranos Gaëlle Arquez and Marianne Crebassa; baritone Mariusz Kwiecien; and bass-baritones Luca Pisaroni and Adam Plachetka—come together for Mozart’s scintillating class comedy. Antonello Manacorda and Cornelius Meister conduct Sir Richard Eyre’s fast-paced production. Production a gift of Mercedes T. Bass, and Jerry and Jane del Missier Revival a gift of the Metropolitan Opera Club
Intermission
Backstage Pass – Loren Toolajian interviews Amanda Woodbury, Hanna-Elisabeth Müller, Etienne Dupuis, Adam Plachetka
Mary Jo Hearth interviews General Manager Peter Gelb about the 2020-2021 Season
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA:Rossini
Benini; Mattei, DiDonato, Flórez, Del Carlo, Relyea
Original Air Date: 03/24/2007
Live in HDMOD Video
SID.20090101
This is a simulcast of the first season Live in HD videocast. It’s the only matinee broadcast appearance of Mattei, DiDonato and Florez together, and they are a splendid trio.
AGRIPPINA:Handel
Harry Bicket: Joyce DiDonato, Brenda Rae, Kate Lindsey, Iestyn Davies, Matthew Rose
Original Air Date: 02/29/2020
Live in HD
SID.20090640
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. This production was originally created by the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie / De Munt Brussels and adapted by the Metropolitan Opera
Intermission
Backstage Pass 1 – HD Host Deborah Voigt interviews Joyce DiDonato
Backstage Pass 2 – HD Host Deborah Voigt interviews Brenda Rae and Iestyn Davies
Mary Jo Hearth interviews Evgeny Nikitin about Der Fliegende Hollände
Backstage Pass 3 – HD Host Deborah Voigt interviews Kate Lindsey and Matthew Rose
COSÌ FAN TUTTE:Mozart
Bicket; Car, Malfi, Stober, Bliss, Pisaroni, Finley
Original Air Date: 03/07/2020
SID.20100600
Coney Island once again comes to the stage of the Met with the first revival of Phelim McDermott’s popular staging inspired by the side shows of the boardwalk. The pairs of young lovers are a casting dream: soprano Nicole Car, mezzo-soprano Serena Malfi, tenor Ben Bliss, and bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni, with the glorious bass-baritone Gerald Finley as the cynical Don Alfonso and the charming soprano Heidi Stober as the mischievous maid Despina. Harry Bicket conducts. Co-production of the Metropolitan Opera and English National Opera In collaboration with Improbable
L’ITALIANA IN ALGERI:Rossini
Levine; Horne, Ahlstedt, Montarsolo, Monk
Original Air Date: 01/04/1986
MOD Video
SID.20110107
This performance precedes the telecast by one week and that telecast is available in MOoD. For me, the distinction of the performance is mostly Montarsolo. Isabella is Horne’s second most performed role at 37 (Carmen unsurprisingly is first at 49) Her 3d is Adalgisa in Norma (all with Sutherland). MOD is 1/11/86 performance with same cast.
L’ITALIANA IN ALGERI:Rossini
Levine; Horne, Ahlstedt, Montarsolo, Monk
Original Air Date: 01/04/1986
MOD Video
SID.20110316
This performance precedes the telecast by one week and that telecast is available in MOoD. For me, the distinction of the performance is mostly Montarsolo. Isabella is Horne’s second most performed role at 37 (Carmen unsurprisingly is first at 49) Her 3d is Adalgisa in Norma (all with Sutherland). MOD is 1/11/86 performance with same cast.
THE GHOSTS OF VERSAILLES:Corigliano
Levine; Stratas, Hagegård, Quilico, Horne, Clark, Fleming
Original Air Date: 01/04/1992
MOD Video
SID.20110535
This was a basically successful Met commission and beautifully cast and prepared. Best experienced with the video from a telecast the next week), which is available from Levine’s 40th anniversary DVD package and in MOoD. The video really helps the work along. . Commissioned by the Met and with a libretto by William M. Hoffman, the work imagines an opera put on by the ghost of Beaumarchais for the ghost of Marie Antoinette and the other spectral residents of Versailles. The sold-out, seven-performance premiere run featured an all-star cast that included Teresa Stratas, Håkan Hagegård, Renée Fleming, Graham Clark, Gino Quilico, and Marilyn Horne.
DER FLIEGENDE HOLLANDER:Wagner
Valery Gergiev: Evgeny Nikitin, Anja Kampe, Sergey Skorokhodov, Franz-Josef Selig
Broadcast of performance from 03/10/2020
SID.20110640
The March 14 live performance and the LIVE IN HD Transmission have been canceled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation and the recommendations of city, state and federal elected officials.
The broadcast will be of the Tuesday 3-10 performance taped as preparation for the Saturday Live in HD transmission.
François Girard, whose revelatory 2013 take on Parsifal set the recent Met standard for Wagner stagings, unveils a spellbinding new vision of the composer’s tale of a cursed sea captain doomed to sail the open ocean for eternity. With sweeping sets by John Macfarlane, Girard’s new production turns the Met stage into a rich, layered tableau reminiscent of a vast oil painting. Valery Gergiev conducts a brilliant cast led by bass-baritone Evgeny Nikitin as the Dutchman, with German soprano Anja Kampe making her anticipated Met debut as the devoted Senta, whose selfless love is what the Dutchman seeks. Bass Franz-Josef Selig is her father, Daland, and tenor Sergey Skorokhodov is her deserted former lover, Erik. A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera; Dutch National Opera, Amsterdam; The Abu Dhabi Festival; and Opéra de Québec