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
27
Tue
2019
GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG
Aug 27 @ 6:00 AM – 9:00 AM

Wagner
Original Air Date: 04/17/1993
Levine; Jones, Johns, Salminen, Held, Plette, Troyanos
SID.19350209
This is one of Jones best Met performances, and 15 years after I saw her do it at Bayreuth. She’s in better voice for this than at the Festspielhaus. This is Troyanos’ farewell broadcast and her last run of anything at the Met. Johns is a very decent Siegfried,and Salminen a thrilling Hagen. The Three Norns are Mignon Dunn, Hanna Schwarz, and Susan Neves. That’s a lot of Stimme from all three ladies.

GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG
Aug 27 @ 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Wagner
Original Air Date: 04/17/1993
Levine; Jones, Johns, Salminen, Held, Plette, Troyanos
SID.19350210
This is one of Jones best Met performances, and 15 years after I saw her do it at Bayreuth. She’s in better voice for this than at the Festspielhaus. This is Troyanos’ farewell broadcast and her last run of anything at the Met. Johns is a very decent Siegfried,and Salminen a thrilling Hagen. The Three Norns are Mignon Dunn, Hanna Schwarz, and Susan Neves. That’s a lot of Stimme from all three ladies.

Aug
29
Thu
2019
GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG
Aug 29 @ 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM

Wagner
Original Air Date: 04/17/1993
Levine; Jones, Johns, Salminen, Held, Plette, Troyanos
SID.19350425
This is one of Jones best Met performances, and 15 years after I saw her do it at Bayreuth. She’s in better voice for this than at the Festspielhaus. This is Troyanos’ farewell broadcast and her last run of anything at the Met. Johns is a very decent Siegfried,and Salminen a thrilling Hagen. The Three Norns are Mignon Dunn, Hanna Schwarz, and Susan Neves. That’s a lot of Stimme from all three ladies.

GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG
Aug 29 @ 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM

Wagner
Original Air Date: 04/17/1993
Levine; Jones, Johns, Salminen, Held, Plette, Troyanos
SID.19350426
This is one of Jones best Met performances, and 15 years after I saw her do it at Bayreuth. She’s in better voice for this than at the Festspielhaus. This is Troyanos’ farewell broadcast and her last run of anything at the Met. Johns is a very decent Siegfried,and Salminen a thrilling Hagen. The Three Norns are Mignon Dunn, Hanna Schwarz, and Susan Neves. That’s a lot of Stimme from all three ladies.

Aug
31
Sat
2019
GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG
Aug 31 @ 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Wagner
Original Air Date: 04/17/1993
Levine; Jones, Johns, Salminen, Held, Plette, Troyanos
SID.19350641
This is one of Jones best Met performances, and 15 years after I saw her do it at Bayreuth. She’s in better voice for this than at the Festspielhaus. This is Troyanos’ farewell broadcast and her last run of anything at the Met. Johns is a very decent Siegfried,and Salminen a thrilling Hagen. The Three Norns are Mignon Dunn, Hanna Schwarz, and Susan Neves. That’s a lot of Stimme from all three ladies.

GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG
Aug 31 @ 9:00 PM – 11:55 PM

Wagner
Original Air Date: 04/17/1993
Levine; Jones, Johns, Salminen, Held, Plette, Troyanos
SID.19350642
This is one of Jones best Met performances, and 15 years after I saw her do it at Bayreuth. She’s in better voice for this than at the Festspielhaus. This is Troyanos’ farewell broadcast and her last run of anything at the Met. Johns is a very decent Siegfried,and Salminen a thrilling Hagen. The Three Norns are Mignon Dunn, Hanna Schwarz, and Susan Neves. That’s a lot of Stimme from all three ladies.

Sep
22
Sun
2019
GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG
Sep 22 @ 6:00 PM – 11:55 PM


GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG:Wagner
Jordan; Goerke, Haller, Schuster, Schager, Nikitin, Konieczny, Owens
Original Air Date: 04/27/2019  SID.19380746   
PROGRAM
The opening night performance in the conclusion of the 2019 revival of the LePage RING CYCLE.  
NYTimes Review (Tommasini)  – In a role that can easily make Siegfried seem like some rowdy, clueless, clunky youth, he conveyed genuine romantic longing for Brünnhilde (the soprano Christine Goerke at her best). And during the long stretch of the story at the hall of powerful Gibichung family, when Siegfried — under the spell of a potion that makes him forget Brünnhilde and fall for Gutrune (the gleaming soprano Edith Haller, in her Met debut) — Mr. Schager’s vulnerable Siegfried often seems poignantly confused, with flashes of memory when he appears to know something is not right. Until a dream-come-true Siegfried arrives, Mr. Schager will do just fine. Jacqueline Woodson Transformed Children’s Literature. Now She’s Writing for Herself.  The bass-baritone Eric Owens made a prideful, calculating and vocally formidable Hagen. And, once again, the conductor Philippe Jordan is proving the hero of the Met’s “Ring.” He led an inexorably unfolding and incisive account of the score, drawing velvety string sound and blazing yet never blaring crescendos from the Met Orchestra, which has seldom sounded finer. Ms. Goerke was magnificent. With unfailing energy, fearless abandon and gleaming sound, she was a mesmerizing Brünnhilde. She caught all the mood shifts of this volatile character, one moment coming across like a smitten young lover, the next a betrayed and embittered woman, a former Valkyrie warrior who by the end, in a self-immolating act of transcendence, brings down the entire edifice of the gods.

Oct
14
Mon
2019
GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG
Oct 14 @ 3:00 PM – 9:00 PM


GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG:Wagner
Levine; Eaglen, Andersen, Halfvarson, Held, Radvanovsky, Palmer
Original Air Date: 04/22/2000
MOD Audio
SID.19420105
This is one of the two Ring cycles broadcast by Eaglen and Levine. This one finds Eaglen on better form than the 2004 (her Met farewell), but Salminen is a stronger Hagen than Halfvarson. The 2004 has been on Sirius, but even though I previously posted that it was available on MOoD, I do not see it present in current availability. This is Felicity Palmer’s Met debut and really potent Gibich siblings in Held and Radvanovsky.

Oct
16
Wed
2019
GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG
Oct 16 @ 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM


GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG:Wagner
Levine; Eaglen, Andersen, Halfvarson, Held, Radvanovsky, Palmer
Original Air Date: 04/22/2000
MOD Audio
SID.19420316
This is one of the two Ring cycles broadcast by Eaglen and Levine. This one finds Eaglen on better form than the 2004 (her Met farewell), but Salminen is a stronger Hagen than Halfvarson. The 2004 has been on Sirius, but even though I previously posted that it was available on MOoD, I do not see it present in current availability. This is Felicity Palmer’s Met debut and really potent Gibich siblings in Held and Radvanovsky.

Oct
20
Sun
2019
GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG
Oct 20 @ 9:00 PM – 11:55 PM


GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG:Wagner
Levine; Eaglen, Andersen, Halfvarson, Held, Radvanovsky, Palmer
Original Air Date: 04/22/2000
MOD Audio
SID.19420747
This is one of the two Ring cycles broadcast by Eaglen and Levine. This one finds Eaglen on better form than the 2004 (her Met farewell), but Salminen is a stronger Hagen than Halfvarson. The 2004 has been on Sirius, but even though I previously posted that it was available on MOoD, I do not see it present in current availability. This is Felicity Palmer’s Met debut and really potent Gibich siblings in Held and Radvanovsky.

Oct
21
Mon
2019
GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG
Oct 21 @ 12:00 AM – 3:00 AM


GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG:Wagner
Levine; Eaglen, Andersen, Halfvarson, Held, Radvanovsky, Palmer
Original Air Date: 04/22/2000
MOD Audio
SID.19430101
This is one of the two Ring cycles broadcast by Eaglen and Levine. This one finds Eaglen on better form than the 2004 (her Met farewell), but Salminen is a stronger Hagen than Halfvarson. The 2004 has been on Sirius, but even though I previously posted that it was available on MOoD, I do not see it present in current availability. This is Felicity Palmer’s Met debut and really potent Gibich siblings in Held and Radvanovsky.

Jan
28
Tue
2020
GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG
Jan 28 @ 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM


GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG:Wagner
Ehrling; Nilsson, Thomas, Rundgren, Dooley, Rankin, Reynolds
Original Air Date: 03/29/1975

SID.20050213
This is Nilsson’s final Wagner opera from the Met airwaves. She only has two other Gotterdammerung broadcasts, the first in 1962 when she was in very fresh voice under Leinsdorf (and on Met Opera in Demand (MOoD) and 1963 under Rosenstock — originally planned for Reiner– with extensive cuts. The supporting cast with the exception of possibly Anna Reynolds’ Waltraute don’t offer much help to Nilsson. She is still in much better voice than when she returned to the Met after a 5 year absence in Elektra. Once again a plea for the Rita Hunter Gotterdammerung broadcast from the year before (where she replaces Nilsson) which features her in very fresh voice, and one of the few broadcast appearances of Helge Brilioth as Siegfried, all under Kubelik. Kubelik only has two Met broadcasts (Troyens is the other with Verrett, Ludwig, and Vickers) and neither has been on the Sirius rebroadcast series. But back to Gotterdammerung, Hagen is almost as important as Brunnhilde and Siegfried, and Rundgren is distinctly second grade goods. Thomas Stewart premiered the production in 1974, but Dooley was the Gunther on both the Kubelik and this broadcast, so no broadcast record for one of Stewart’s best roles. Rankin, a well traveled mezzo mostly in the Italian wing, is a curious choice for Gutrune (maybe Kubelik had a fond memory of her Troyens Cassandra when he premiered the opera 15 years earlier at La Scala with Del Monaco and Simionato in Italian. So this Gotterdammerung will be a curiosity, but for me her 1962 broadcast and the two commercial (Decca studio and Philips live from Bayreuth are noble indeed.

GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG
Jan 28 @ 9:00 PM – 11:55 PM


GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG:Wagner
Ehrling; Nilsson, Thomas, Rundgren, Dooley, Rankin, Reynolds
Original Air Date: 03/29/1975

SID.20050214
This is Nilsson’s final Wagner opera from the Met airwaves. She only has two other Gotterdammerung broadcasts, the first in 1962 when she was in very fresh voice under Leinsdorf (and on Met Opera in Demand (MOoD) and 1963 under Rosenstock — originally planned for Reiner– with extensive cuts. The supporting cast with the exception of possibly Anna Reynolds’ Waltraute don’t offer much help to Nilsson. She is still in much better voice than when she returned to the Met after a 5 year absence in Elektra. Once again a plea for the Rita Hunter Gotterdammerung broadcast from the year before (where she replaces Nilsson) which features her in very fresh voice, and one of the few broadcast appearances of Helge Brilioth as Siegfried, all under Kubelik. Kubelik only has two Met broadcasts (Troyens is the other with Verrett, Ludwig, and Vickers) and neither has been on the Sirius rebroadcast series. But back to Gotterdammerung, Hagen is almost as important as Brunnhilde and Siegfried, and Rundgren is distinctly second grade goods. Thomas Stewart premiered the production in 1974, but Dooley was the Gunther on both the Kubelik and this broadcast, so no broadcast record for one of Stewart’s best roles. Rankin, a well traveled mezzo mostly in the Italian wing, is a curious choice for Gutrune (maybe Kubelik had a fond memory of her Troyens Cassandra when he premiered the opera 15 years earlier at La Scala with Del Monaco and Simionato in Italian. So this Gotterdammerung will be a curiosity, but for me her 1962 broadcast and the two commercial (Decca studio and Philips live from Bayreuth are noble indeed.

Jan
31
Fri
2020
GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG
Jan 31 @ 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM


GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG:Wagner
Ehrling; Nilsson, Thomas, Rundgren, Dooley, Rankin, Reynolds
Original Air Date: 03/29/1975

SID.20050532
This is Nilsson’s final Wagner opera from the Met airwaves. She only has two other Gotterdammerung broadcasts, the first in 1962 when she was in very fresh voice under Leinsdorf (and on Met Opera in Demand (MOoD) and 1963 under Rosenstock — originally planned for Reiner– with extensive cuts. The supporting cast with the exception of possibly Anna Reynolds’ Waltraute don’t offer much help to Nilsson. She is still in much better voice than when she returned to the Met after a 5 year absence in Elektra. Once again a plea for the Rita Hunter Gotterdammerung broadcast from the year before (where she replaces Nilsson) which features her in very fresh voice, and one of the few broadcast appearances of Helge Brilioth as Siegfried, all under Kubelik. Kubelik only has two Met broadcasts (Troyens is the other with Verrett, Ludwig, and Vickers) and neither has been on the Sirius rebroadcast series. But back to Gotterdammerung, Hagen is almost as important as Brunnhilde and Siegfried, and Rundgren is distinctly second grade goods. Thomas Stewart premiered the production in 1974, but Dooley was the Gunther on both the Kubelik and this broadcast, so no broadcast record for one of Stewart’s best roles. Rankin, a well traveled mezzo mostly in the Italian wing, is a curious choice for Gutrune (maybe Kubelik had a fond memory of her Troyens Cassandra when he premiered the opera 15 years earlier at La Scala with Del Monaco and Simionato in Italian. So this Gotterdammerung will be a curiosity, but for me her 1962 broadcast and the two commercial (Decca studio and Philips live from Bayreuth are noble indeed.

GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG
Jan 31 @ 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM


GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG:Wagner
Ehrling; Nilsson, Thomas, Rundgren, Dooley, Rankin, Reynolds
Original Air Date: 03/29/1975

SID.20050533
This is Nilsson’s final Wagner opera from the Met airwaves. She only has two other Gotterdammerung broadcasts, the first in 1962 when she was in very fresh voice under Leinsdorf (and on Met Opera in Demand (MOoD) and 1963 under Rosenstock — originally planned for Reiner– with extensive cuts. The supporting cast with the exception of possibly Anna Reynolds’ Waltraute don’t offer much help to Nilsson. She is still in much better voice than when she returned to the Met after a 5 year absence in Elektra. Once again a plea for the Rita Hunter Gotterdammerung broadcast from the year before (where she replaces Nilsson) which features her in very fresh voice, and one of the few broadcast appearances of Helge Brilioth as Siegfried, all under Kubelik. Kubelik only has two Met broadcasts (Troyens is the other with Verrett, Ludwig, and Vickers) and neither has been on the Sirius rebroadcast series. But back to Gotterdammerung, Hagen is almost as important as Brunnhilde and Siegfried, and Rundgren is distinctly second grade goods. Thomas Stewart premiered the production in 1974, but Dooley was the Gunther on both the Kubelik and this broadcast, so no broadcast record for one of Stewart’s best roles. Rankin, a well traveled mezzo mostly in the Italian wing, is a curious choice for Gutrune (maybe Kubelik had a fond memory of her Troyens Cassandra when he premiered the opera 15 years earlier at La Scala with Del Monaco and Simionato in Italian. So this Gotterdammerung will be a curiosity, but for me her 1962 broadcast and the two commercial (Decca studio and Philips live from Bayreuth are noble indeed.

Mar
17
Tue
2020
GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG
Mar 17 @ 6:00 AM – 9:00 AM


GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG:Wagner
Levine; Eaglen, West, Salminen, Held, Wray, Naef
Original Air Date: 04/24/2004

SID.20120209
This is Eaglen’s final Met appearance, although not so marked yet in the database. Her 2000 broadcast is on MOoD with Stig Anderson and Eric Halvarson and Felicity Palmer’s Met debut as Waltraute. West was always a solid singer for me and I will take a listen to see how sounds vis a vis current competition, and Salminen is the standard for Hagen. But don’t expect too much from Eaglen. The tone had become significantly compromised by the final round of her Met performances.

GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG
Mar 17 @ 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM


GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG:Wagner
Levine; Eaglen, West, Salminen, Held, Wray, Naef
Original Air Date: 04/24/2004

SID.20120210
This is Eaglen’s final Met appearance, although not so marked yet in the database. Her 2000 broadcast is on MOoD with Stig Anderson and Eric Halvarson and Felicity Palmer’s Met debut as Waltraute. West was always a solid singer for me and I will take a listen to see how sounds vis a vis current competition, and Salminen is the standard for Hagen. But don’t expect too much from Eaglen. The tone had become significantly compromised by the final round of her Met performances.

Mar
19
Thu
2020
GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG
Mar 19 @ 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM


GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG:Wagner
Levine; Eaglen, West, Salminen, Held, Wray, Naef
Original Air Date: 04/24/2004

SID.20120425
This is Eaglen’s final Met appearance, although not so marked yet in the database. Her 2000 broadcast is on MOoD with Stig Anderson and Eric Halvarson and Felicity Palmer’s Met debut as Waltraute. West was always a solid singer for me and I will take a listen to see how sounds vis a vis current competition, and Salminen is the standard for Hagen. But don’t expect too much from Eaglen. The tone had become significantly compromised by the final round of her Met performances.

GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG
Mar 19 @ 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM


GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG:Wagner
Levine; Eaglen, West, Salminen, Held, Wray, Naef
Original Air Date: 04/24/2004

SID.20120426
This is Eaglen’s final Met appearance, although not so marked yet in the database. Her 2000 broadcast is on MOoD with Stig Anderson and Eric Halvarson and Felicity Palmer’s Met debut as Waltraute. West was always a solid singer for me and I will take a listen to see how sounds vis a vis current competition, and Salminen is the standard for Hagen. But don’t expect too much from Eaglen. The tone had become significantly compromised by the final round of her Met performances.

Mar
21
Sat
2020
GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG
Mar 21 @ 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM


GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG:Wagner
Levine; Eaglen, West, Salminen, Held, Wray, Naef
Original Air Date: 04/24/2004

SID.20120641
This is Eaglen’s final Met appearance, although not so marked yet in the database. Her 2000 broadcast is on MOoD with Stig Anderson and Eric Halvarson and Felicity Palmer’s Met debut as Waltraute. West was always a solid singer for me and I will take a listen to see how sounds vis a vis current competition, and Salminen is the standard for Hagen. But don’t expect too much from Eaglen. The tone had become significantly compromised by the final round of her Met performances.

GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG
Mar 21 @ 9:00 PM – 11:55 PM


GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG:Wagner
Levine; Eaglen, West, Salminen, Held, Wray, Naef
Original Air Date: 04/24/2004

SID.20120642
This is Eaglen’s final Met appearance, although not so marked yet in the database. Her 2000 broadcast is on MOoD with Stig Anderson and Eric Halvarson and Felicity Palmer’s Met debut as Waltraute. West was always a solid singer for me and I will take a listen to see how sounds vis a vis current competition, and Salminen is the standard for Hagen. But don’t expect too much from Eaglen. The tone had become significantly compromised by the final round of her Met performances.

GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG {220}
Der Ring des Nibelungen: Cycle [103] Uncut
Wagner-Wagner

Brünnhilde…………..Jane Eaglen*
Siegfried……………Jon Fredric West
Gunther……………..Alan Held
Gutrune……………..Margaret Jane Wray
Hagen……………….Matti Salminen
Waltraute……………Yvonne Naef
Alberich…………….Richard Paul Fink
First Norn…………..Elena Zaremba
Second Norn………….Yvonne Naef
Third Norn…………..Christine Goerke
Woglinde…………….Lyubov Petrova
Wellgunde……………Maria Zifchak
Flosshilde…………..Jane Bunnell

Conductor……………James Levine

Production…………..Otto Schenk
Stage Director……….Peter McClintock
Set designer…………Günther Schneider-Siemssen
Costume designer……..Rolf Langenfass
Lighting designer…….Gil Wechsler

*Last Performance
Götterdämmerung received three performances this season.
Production Photos

Mar
27
Fri
2020
GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG [NMOS]
Mar 27 @ 7:30 PM – 11:55 PM


GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG:Wagner
Luisi; Voigt, Harmer, Meier, Hunter Morris, Owens, Paterson, Konig
Original Air Date: 02/11/2012  Live in HD  
SID.20130540

Review
Production Photos

Brünnhilde…………..Deborah Voigt
Siegfried……………Jay Hunter Morris
Gunther……………..Iain Paterson
Gutrune……………..Wendy Bryn Harmer
Hagen……………….Hans-Peter König
Waltraute……………Waltraud Meier
Alberich…………….Eric Owens
First Norn…………..Maria Radner
Second Norn………….Elizabeth Bishop
Third Norn…………..Heidi Melton
Woglinde…………….Erin Morley
Wellgunde……………Jennifer Johnson Cano
Flosshilde…………..Tamara Mumford

Stage Horn solo: Erik Ralske

Conductor……………Fabio Luisi

Production…………..Robert Lepage
Associate Director……Neilson Vignola
Set designer…………Carl Fillion
Costume designer……..François St-Aubin
Lighting designer…….Etienne Boucher
Video Image Artist……Lionel Arnould
TV Director………….Gary Halvorson