2019 Summer HD Festival

In this 11th year, over ten nights performances from the Met’s Live in HD series will be shown starting with a screening of FUNNY FACE in a special co-presentation with Film at Lincoln Center.   Screenings run from August 23 through September 2.  There will be 3000 seats in the Plaza in front of the Opera House with an additional standing room area. Cancellations due to thunder/lighting or high wind will not be rescheduled. 

Aug
23
Fri
2019
FALSTAFF
Aug 23 @ 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM


FALSTAFF:Verdi
Original Air Date: 02/03/1996
Levine; Plishka, Daniels, Quilico, Horne, Bonney, Groves
MOD Audio SID.19340532
Levine, Plishka, Bonney, and Horne are all in the 1992 revival which is on MOoD, but with Freni for Daniels, and Bruno Pola for Quilico. My experience with almost all of the Falstaff casting in the Levine era is OK, but not really an ensemble. We still keep having the Bernstein performance overlooked (LB’s only other Met broadcast beside Cavalleria) from 1964. The bad luck continues with Rosenstock’s conducting from 1965 and Amaducci’s conducting fom 1967. The Dohnanyi performance from 1972 features Gobbi in one of HIS two Met broadcasts (the other is Otello, no Scarpia on the Met airwaves alas) with Tebaldi, Resnik, Paskalis in sterling support. This should be in MOoD.

Aug
26
Mon
2019
FALSTAFF
Aug 26 @ 12:00 AM – 3:00 AM


FALSTAFF:Verdi
Original Air Date: 02/03/1996
Levine; Plishka, Daniels, Quilico, Horne, Bonney, Groves
MOD Audio SID.19350101
Levine, Plishka, Bonney, and Horne are all in the 1992 revival which is on MOoD, but with Freni for Daniels, and Bruno Pola for Quilico. My experience with almost all of the Falstaff casting in the Levine era is OK, but not really an ensemble. We still keep having the Bernstein performance overlooked (LB’s only other Met broadcast beside Cavalleria) from 1964. The bad luck continues with Rosenstock’s conducting from 1965 and Amaducci’s conducting fom 1967. The Dohnanyi performance from 1972 features Gobbi in one of HIS two Met broadcasts (the other is Otello, no Scarpia on the Met airwaves alas) with Tebaldi, Resnik, Paskalis in sterling support. This should be in MOoD.

Sep
3
Tue
2019
THE GHOSTS OF VERSAILLES
Sep 3 @ 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM


THE GHOSTS OF VERSAILLES:Corigliano
Original Air Date: 01/04/1992
Levine; Stratas, Hagegård, Quilico, Horne, Clark, Fleming
MOD Video SID.19360213
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.

Sep
6
Fri
2019
THE GHOSTS OF VERSAILLES
Sep 6 @ 12:00 AM – 3:00 AM


THE GHOSTS OF VERSAILLES:Corigliano
Original Air Date: 01/04/1992
Levine; Stratas, Hagegård, Quilico, Horne, Clark, Fleming
MOD Video SID.19360529
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.

Sep
8
Sun
2019
THE GHOSTS OF VERSAILLES
Sep 8 @ 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM


THE GHOSTS OF VERSAILLES:Corigliano
Original Air Date: 01/04/1992
Levine; Stratas, Hagegård, Quilico, Horne, Clark, Fleming
MOD Video SID.19360745
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.

Sep
16
Mon
2019
IL TROVATORE
Sep 16 @ 9:00 PM – 11:55 PM


IL TROVATORE:Verdi
Original Air Date: 04/09/1977
Veltri; McCracken, Scotto, Verrett, Quilico, Smith
SID.19380107
Azucena is one of Verrett’s best roles, and she has three excellent broadcasts, 1971, this one, and a 1987 performance which is Sutherland’s farewell. Scotto understands the style, but a smoother, more velvety voice is called for. McCracken who is 3d in Met Manricos (only Martinelli’s 69 and Baum’s 60 are higher has only one other Trovatore broadcast from 1969 which is Bumbry’s only Met broadcast Azucena. Could we get that rebroadcast on Sirius sometime? Bumbry is severely underrepresented on Met Opera on Demand with only one Amneris, one Carmen, and one Salome. She’s a Kennedy Center honoree, and has many distinguished broadcasts. McCracken only has 4 performances in MOoD, the same as Baum.

Sep
18
Wed
2019
IL TROVATORE
Sep 18 @ 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM


IL TROVATORE:Verdi
Original Air Date: 04/09/1977
Veltri; McCracken, Scotto, Verrett, Quilico, Smith
SID.19380317
Azucena is one of Verrett’s best roles, and she has three excellent broadcasts, 1971, this one, and a 1987 performance which is Sutherland’s farewell. Scotto understands the style, but a smoother, more velvety voice is called for. McCracken who is 3d in Met Manricos (only Martinelli’s 69 and Baum’s 60 are higher has only one other Trovatore broadcast from 1969 which is Bumbry’s only Met broadcast Azucena. Could we get that rebroadcast on Sirius sometime? Bumbry is severely underrepresented on Met Opera on Demand with only one Amneris, one Carmen, and one Salome. She’s a Kennedy Center honoree, and has many distinguished broadcasts. McCracken only has 4 performances in MOoD, the same as Baum.

Sep
20
Fri
2019
IL TROVATORE
Sep 20 @ 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM


IL TROVATORE:Verdi
Original Air Date: 04/09/1977
Veltri; McCracken, Scotto, Verrett, Quilico, Smith
SID.19380533
Azucena is one of Verrett’s best roles, and she has three excellent broadcasts, 1971, this one, and a 1987 performance which is Sutherland’s farewell. Scotto understands the style, but a smoother, more velvety voice is called for. McCracken who is 3d in Met Manricos (only Martinelli’s 69 and Baum’s 60 are higher has only one other Trovatore broadcast from 1969 which is Bumbry’s only Met broadcast Azucena. Could we get that rebroadcast on Sirius sometime? Bumbry is severely underrepresented on Met Opera on Demand with only one Amneris, one Carmen, and one Salome. She’s a Kennedy Center honoree, and has many distinguished broadcasts. McCracken only has 4 performances in MOoD, the same as Baum.

Oct
14
Mon
2019
IL TROVATORE
Oct 14 @ 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM


IL TROVATORE:Verdi
Conlon; Giacomini, Price, Cortez, Quilico, Cheek
Original Air Date: 02/06/1982

SID.19420103
SR: Besides Price’s excellent “known quantity” Leonora, this broadcast offers the opportunity for Giacomini fans to relish his Manrico and to hear the very much in his prime Louis Quilico as di Luna. Some of the bloom had, by 1982, begun to depart from Viorica Cortez’ voice..but she still had much to offer. All-in-all an enjoyable outing. This is a very young Conlon who still had 5 or 6 broadcasts already under his belt. I have no strong memory of this performance, but Giacomini’s certainly had the heft for Manrico if not necessarily easy upper register. Cortez is not one of my favorites. This is getting towards the end for Price. Listen to her in 1961 where her Leonora is stunning, and that is on Met Player as well as Sony CDs.

Oct
17
Thu
2019
IL TROVATORE
Oct 17 @ 12:00 AM – 3:00 AM


IL TROVATORE:Verdi
Conlon; Giacomini, Price, Cortez, Quilico, Cheek
Original Air Date: 02/06/1982

SID.19420320
SR: Besides Price’s excellent “known quantity” Leonora, this broadcast offers the opportunity for Giacomini fans to relish his Manrico and to hear the very much in his prime Louis Quilico as di Luna. Some of the bloom had, by 1982, begun to depart from Viorica Cortez’ voice..but she still had much to offer. All-in-all an enjoyable outing. This is a very young Conlon who still had 5 or 6 broadcasts already under his belt. I have no strong memory of this performance, but Giacomini’s certainly had the heft for Manrico if not necessarily easy upper register. Cortez is not one of my favorites. This is getting towards the end for Price. Listen to her in 1961 where her Leonora is stunning, and that is on Met Player as well as Sony CDs.

Oct
19
Sat
2019
IL TROVATORE
Oct 19 @ 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM


IL TROVATORE:Verdi
Conlon; Giacomini, Price, Cortez, Quilico, Cheek
Original Air Date: 02/06/1982

SID.19420637
SR: Besides Price’s excellent “known quantity” Leonora, this broadcast offers the opportunity for Giacomini fans to relish his Manrico and to hear the very much in his prime Louis Quilico as di Luna. Some of the bloom had, by 1982, begun to depart from Viorica Cortez’ voice..but she still had much to offer. All-in-all an enjoyable outing. This is a very young Conlon who still had 5 or 6 broadcasts already under his belt. I have no strong memory of this performance, but Giacomini’s certainly had the heft for Manrico if not necessarily easy upper register. Cortez is not one of my favorites. This is getting towards the end for Price. Listen to her in 1961 where her Leonora is stunning, and that is on Met Player as well as Sony CDs.

Oct
21
Mon
2019
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA
Oct 21 @ 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM


IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA:Rossini
Weikert; Hampson, von Stade, Olsen, Quilico, Ramey
Original Air Date: 02/29/1992
MOD Audio
SID.19430103
Louis Quilico is not my ideal Bartolo. Von Stade’s first Rosina broadcast from 1976 with Stilwell, Corena, and Morris has been on Sirius, but not 1983 which features Pablo Elvira, Sesto Bruscantini (as Bartolo) and Paolo Montarsolo as Basilio. This 1992 performance is her last Met performance as Rosina. Appears almost as much as BOHEME

Oct
24
Thu
2019
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA
Oct 24 @ 12:00 AM – 3:00 AM


IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA:Rossini
Weikert; Hampson, von Stade, Olsen, Quilico, Ramey
Original Air Date: 02/29/1992
MOD Audio
SID.19430422
Louis Quilico is not my ideal Bartolo. Von Stade’s first Rosina broadcast from 1976 with Stilwell, Corena, and Morris has been on Sirius, but not 1983 which features Pablo Elvira, Sesto Bruscantini (as Bartolo) and Paolo Montarsolo as Basilio. This 1992 performance is her last Met performance as Rosina. Appears almost as much as BOHEME

Oct
26
Sat
2019
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA
Oct 26 @ 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM


IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA:Rossini
Weikert; Hampson, von Stade, Olsen, Quilico, Ramey
Original Air Date: 02/29/1992
MOD Audio
SID.19430639
Louis Quilico is not my ideal Bartolo. Von Stade’s first Rosina broadcast from 1976 with Stilwell, Corena, and Morris has been on Sirius, but not 1983 which features Pablo Elvira, Sesto Bruscantini (as Bartolo) and Paolo Montarsolo as Basilio. This 1992 performance is her last Met performance as Rosina. Appears almost as much as BOHEME

Mar
4
Wed
2020
L’ELISIR D’AMORE
Mar 4 @ 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM


L’ELISIR D’AMORE:Donizetti
Panni; Pavarotti, Battle, Plishka, Quilico
Original Air Date: 04/29/1989
MOD Audio
SID.20100317
L’Elisir is arguably the most over broadcast repertory opera on Sirius. The opera is a charming confection with lovely vocal turns for both the soprano and tenor, and meaty traditional roles for the buffo bass and the lyric baritone. For superstars like Pavarotti, Florez, and Netrebko, these parts allow them to slide a little, but just because superstars find L’Elisir handy Met repertory selection in the house and on the radio have become very distorted. To be honest the best way to experience Pavarotti’s Nemorino is to hear the Decca studio version with Sutherland from 1970– JoS never did the part onstage, but the vocal gold of this studio recording is anything but hothouse. Second best way to experience Pavarotti’s Nemorino is his 1978 broadcast with Blegen, Corena, and Sereni. The presence of the two best bass clef singers for this opera and a Pavarotti 11 years younger make for a considerable improvement. It’s on MOoD. Also on MOoD and where you should listen to life beyond Pavarotti are the 1972 with Scotto, Bergonzi pairing with Corena and Sereni: 4 native Italians savoring the style to a fare-thee well. Bergonzi has an earlier broadcast with Peters and Guarrera in for Sereni, and Peters has a broadcast with Kraus with Corena and Sereni. All of these are on MOoD and while they’ve all been on Sirius, they are eschewed mostly in favor of more recent performances with less stylish casts.

Mar
6
Fri
2020
L’ELISIR D’AMORE
Mar 6 @ 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM


L’ELISIR D’AMORE:Donizetti
Panni; Pavarotti, Battle, Plishka, Quilico
Original Air Date: 04/29/1989
MOD Audio
SID.20100534
L’Elisir is arguably the most over broadcast repertory opera on Sirius. The opera is a charming confection with lovely vocal turns for both the soprano and tenor, and meaty traditional roles for the buffo bass and the lyric baritone. For superstars like Pavarotti, Florez, and Netrebko, these parts allow them to slide a little, but just because superstars find L’Elisir handy Met repertory selection in the house and on the radio have become very distorted. To be honest the best way to experience Pavarotti’s Nemorino is to hear the Decca studio version with Sutherland from 1970– JoS never did the part onstage, but the vocal gold of this studio recording is anything but hothouse. Second best way to experience Pavarotti’s Nemorino is his 1978 broadcast with Blegen, Corena, and Sereni. The presence of the two best bass clef singers for this opera and a Pavarotti 11 years younger make for a considerable improvement. It’s on MOoD. Also on MOoD and where you should listen to life beyond Pavarotti are the 1972 with Scotto, Bergonzi pairing with Corena and Sereni: 4 native Italians savoring the style to a fare-thee well. Bergonzi has an earlier broadcast with Peters and Guarrera in for Sereni, and Peters has a broadcast with Kraus with Corena and Sereni. All of these are on MOoD and while they’ve all been on Sirius, they are eschewed mostly in favor of more recent performances with less stylish casts.

Mar
8
Sun
2020
L’ELISIR D’AMORE
Mar 8 @ 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM


L’ELISIR D’AMORE:Donizetti
Panni; Pavarotti, Battle, Plishka, Quilico
Original Air Date: 04/29/1989
MOD Audio
SID.20100744
L’Elisir is arguably the most over broadcast repertory opera on Sirius. The opera is a charming confection with lovely vocal turns for both the soprano and tenor, and meaty traditional roles for the buffo bass and the lyric baritone. For superstars like Pavarotti, Florez, and Netrebko, these parts allow them to slide a little, but just because superstars find L’Elisir handy Met repertory selection in the house and on the radio have become very distorted. To be honest the best way to experience Pavarotti’s Nemorino is to hear the Decca studio version with Sutherland from 1970– JoS never did the part onstage, but the vocal gold of this studio recording is anything but hothouse. Second best way to experience Pavarotti’s Nemorino is his 1978 broadcast with Blegen, Corena, and Sereni. The presence of the two best bass clef singers for this opera and a Pavarotti 11 years younger make for a considerable improvement. It’s on MOoD. Also on MOoD and where you should listen to life beyond Pavarotti are the 1972 with Scotto, Bergonzi pairing with Corena and Sereni: 4 native Italians savoring the style to a fare-thee well. Bergonzi has an earlier broadcast with Peters and Guarrera in for Sereni, and Peters has a broadcast with Kraus with Corena and Sereni. All of these are on MOoD and while they’ve all been on Sirius, they are eschewed mostly in favor of more recent performances with less stylish casts.

Mar
13
Fri
2020
THE GHOSTS OF VERSAILLES
Mar 13 @ 9:00 PM – 11:55 PM


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.

Mar
15
Sun
2020
THE GHOSTS OF VERSAILLES
Mar 15 @ 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM


THE GHOSTS OF VERSAILLES:Corigliano
Levine; Stratas, Hagegård, Quilico, Horne, Clark, Fleming
Original Air Date: 01/04/1992
MOD Video
SID.20110745
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.

Mar
31
Tue
2020
SAMSON ET DALILA
Mar 31 @ 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM


SAMSON ET DALILA:Saint-Saëns
Fournet; Vickers, Horne, Quilico
Original Air Date: 04/18/1987
MOD Audio
SID.20140213
This is Vickers’ farewell to the Met (not announced in advance). For many of us, he is a legendary singer who spans the beginning of our operatic journey, and 26 years later still shines very brightly indeed. In almost every assumption he not only gave his individual commitment (he was Giasone to Callas in my first opera in 1958 in Dallas) but simply encompassed roles as few ever do and was always in the top rank and usually best ever seen in the roles. Samson is certainly one of those roles, and if the opera has been a bit overdone on Sirius, I am never finished with my enjoyment of Vickers. Horne is a singer I admire on many fronts– her support of young artists, the advocacy for vocal recitals, and certainly outstanding Rossinian efforts. But I’m not much of Rossini guy, and I find many of her ventures beyond not to my taste, Verdi (even as Quickly) really doesn’t work and Dalila doesn’t compare with my first (Rita Gorr in the premiere of the O’Hearn Merrill production in 1964) or some of my best more recent ones– Borodina’s voice was made for those languorous lines. This is Vickers’ only broadcast of Samson et Dalila, and sometime min the last 3 years has been added to MOoD as a testament to his work and whom we lost July 13, 2015 after a long illness.

Apr
3
Fri
2020
SAMSON ET DALILA
Apr 3 @ 12:00 AM – 3:00 AM


SAMSON ET DALILA:Saint-Saëns
Fournet; Vickers, Horne, Quilico
Original Air Date: 04/18/1987
MOD Audio
SID.20140532
This is Vickers’ farewell to the Met (not announced in advance). For many of us, he is a legendary singer who spans the beginning of our operatic journey, and 26 years later still shines very brightly indeed. In almost every assumption he not only gave his individual commitment (he was Giasone to Callas in my first opera in 1958 in Dallas) but simply encompassed roles as few ever do and was always in the top rank and usually best ever seen in the roles. Samson is certainly one of those roles, and if the opera has been a bit overdone on Sirius, I am never finished with my enjoyment of Vickers. Horne is a singer I admire on many fronts– her support of young artists, the advocacy for vocal recitals, and certainly outstanding Rossinian efforts. But I’m not much of Rossini guy, and I find many of her ventures beyond not to my taste, Verdi (even as Quickly) really doesn’t work and Dalila doesn’t compare with my first (Rita Gorr in the premiere of the O’Hearn Merrill production in 1964) or some of my best more recent ones– Borodina’s voice was made for those languorous lines. This is Vickers’ only broadcast of Samson et Dalila, and sometime min the last 3 years has been added to MOoD as a testament to his work and whom we lost July 13, 2015 after a long illness.

Apr
5
Sun
2020
SAMSON ET DALILA
Apr 5 @ 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM


SAMSON ET DALILA:Saint-Saëns
Fournet; Vickers, Horne, Quilico
Original Air Date: 04/18/1987
MOD Audio
SID.20140750
This is Vickers’ farewell to the Met (not announced in advance). For many of us, he is a legendary singer who spans the beginning of our operatic journey, and 26 years later still shines very brightly indeed. In almost every assumption he not only gave his individual commitment (he was Giasone to Callas in my first opera in 1958 in Dallas) but simply encompassed roles as few ever do and was always in the top rank and usually best ever seen in the roles. Samson is certainly one of those roles, and if the opera has been a bit overdone on Sirius, I am never finished with my enjoyment of Vickers. Horne is a singer I admire on many fronts– her support of young artists, the advocacy for vocal recitals, and certainly outstanding Rossinian efforts. But I’m not much of Rossini guy, and I find many of her ventures beyond not to my taste, Verdi (even as Quickly) really doesn’t work and Dalila doesn’t compare with my first (Rita Gorr in the premiere of the O’Hearn Merrill production in 1964) or some of my best more recent ones– Borodina’s voice was made for those languorous lines. This is Vickers’ only broadcast of Samson et Dalila, and sometime min the last 3 years has been added to MOoD as a testament to his work and whom we lost July 13, 2015 after a long illness.