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.
SIEGFRIED:Wagner
Original Air Date: 04/13/2019
Jordan; Goerke, Morley, Cargill, Vinke, Siegel, Volle, Konieczny, Belosselskiy
SID.19380640
Review: In the Met’s ‘Siegfried,’ Singers Transcend the Staging – By Joshua Barone April 14, 2019
Pity the opera directors who decide to stage Wagner’s “Ring” — for in doing so they have to figure out what to do with “Siegfried.” The third installment of Wagner’s epic, which returned to the Metropolitan Opera in Robert Lepage’s tech-happy production on Saturday, has tripped up even the smartest of “Ring” directors. Blame the source material: a title role both tedious and impractically difficult; a repetitive libretto sitting somewhere between coming-of-age adventure and dark comedy; a singing dragon. Mr. Lepage’s staging doesn’t do much to help the problems baked into “Siegfried,” a weak spot of the “Ring” that lacks the breakneck pace of “Das Rheingold,” the heart-rending humanity of “Die Walküre” or the textbook-perfect tragedy of “Götterdämmerung.” What it does help, however, is the problem of the 45-ton machine so central to his production as its primary set piece. Instead of relying on the unreliable behemoth to be as kinetic as in the earlier “Ring” operas, Mr. Lepage here treats the machine as more of a canvas for Pedro Pires’s impressive projections. Three-dimensional, interactive videos create the illusion of leaves rustling beneath Siegfried’s feet, of a pond’s surface being truly reflective.
***
But good singers can lift a subpar staging. In this “Siegfried,” they transcend it. Stefan Vinke is making his Met debut in the titular heldentenor role, armed with insouciant high notes and a bright smile. His heroism occasionally veers into howling, and the strain in his voice doesn’t always befit a boyish naïf who knows no fear. (He shares the run with Andreas Schager, who is capable of breezing through the role’s most challenging passages with the shocking ease of Siegfried wrangling a bear.) But Mr. Vinke is a pleasure to watch; he leans into the opera’s comedy — and his character’s ignorance, which often comes off as idiocy. As the scheming Mime, who takes in the orphaned Siegfried in the hope of using the boy’s strength to gain the ring, Gerhard Siegel infused his tenor with venom. Mime’s brother, Alberich, who in “Das Rheingold” commits the original sin of the “Ring,” only returns in “Siegfried” for brief moments in Act II. But those scenes were among the most memorable on Saturday. That’s because Alberich is sung by Tomasz Konieczny, who is also making his Met debut and continues to stand out even among extraordinary colleagues. His resonant bass ricochets off the planks of the machine as he imbues Alberich with dignified authority. His confrontation with Wotan — presented in “Siegfried” as the Wanderer, dressed like a Gandalf of the Wild West and performed by Michael Volle — is a high point of the opera. Or, rather, low: They are both booming basses, equally mighty in a way that illustrates, with only music, how alike these antipodal characters may be.
If women seem absent, it’s because there are so few: the whistle-high Erin Morley as the Woodbird; the solemn Karen Cargill as Erda; and, of course, the fiery soprano Christine Goerke as Brünnhilde. It’s remarkable that anyone in this cast was singing so well in a matinee that began at 11:30 a.m. But Ms. Goerke also had to feign sleep onstage for nearly 20 minutes before letting out a resounding “Heil dir, Sonne!” that penetrated through swelling fortes in the orchestra, crisp and controlled under the baton of Philippe Jordan. Ms. Goerke’s vigor only grew in a crescendo toward all-out majesty in the final scene, a courtship with Mr. Vinke that ended with their leaping into love and matching high C’s. For this climax of old-fashioned operatic thrills, they weren’t even standing on the machine — as if they existed outside Mr. Lepage’s production entirely. @NYTimes
DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG:Wagner
Levine; Dasch, Cargill, Appleby, Martin Kranzle, Botha, Konig, Volle
Original Air Date: 12/13/2014 Live in HD
SID.20130648
NY Times Tommasini review. This was the last run of the Schenk traditional production (premiered 1993) New production by Herheim was originally scheduled for 19-20 season.
Hans Sachs…………..Michael Volle
Eva…………………Annette Dasch
Walther von Stolzing….Johan Botha
Magdalene……………Karen Cargill
David……………….Paul Appleby
Beckmesser…………..Johannes Martin Kränzle
Pogner………………Hans-Peter König
Kothner……………..Martin Gantner
Vogelgesang………….Benjamin Bliss
Nachtigall…………..John Moore
Ortel……………….David Crawford
Zorn………………..David Cangelosi
Moser……………….Noah Baetge
Eisslinger…………..Tony Stevenson
Foltz……………….Brian Kontes
Schwarz……………..Ricardo Lugo
Night Watchman……….Matthew Rose
Conductor……………James Levine
Production…………..Otto Schenk
Set Designer…………Günther Schneider-Siemssen
Costume Designer……..Rolf Langenfass
Lighting Designer…….Gil Wechsler
Stage Director……….Paula Suozzi
Choreography…………Carmen De Lavallade
TV Director………….Matthew Diamond
TOSCA:Puccini
de BIlly, Netrebko, Eyvazov, Volle
Original Air Date: 04/30/2018
Live in HD
SID.20150644
www.nytimes.com/2018/01/01/arts/music/tosca-metropolitan-opera.html observer.com/2018/01/review-metropolitan-opera-puccini-tosca-sonya-yoncheva/
Puccini
Original Air Date: 04/11/2020
de Billy; Netrebko, Jagde, Volle, Carfizzi
SID.20150000
AT HOME GALA:Various
Featured Artists
Ildar Abdrazakov Moscow, Russia
Roberto Alagna and Aleksandra Kurzak Le Raincy, France
Marco Armiliato Lugano, Switzerland
Jamie Barton Atlanta, Georgia
Piotr Beczała Zabnica, Poland
Angel Blue Alpine, New Jersey
Lawrence Brownlee Niceville, Florida
Joseph Calleja Mellieha, Malta
Javier Camarena Zurich, Switzerland
Nicole Car and Etienne Dupuis Paris, France
David Chan Closter, New Jersey
Anthony Roth Costanzo New York, New York
Stephen Costello and Yoon Kwon Costello New York, New York
Diana Damrau and Nicolas Testé Orange, France
Michael Fabiano Bonita Springs, Florida
Renée Fleming Virginia
Elīna Garanča Riga, Latvia
Christine Goerke Teaneck, New Jersey
Gunther Groissböck Lugano, Switzerland
Jonas Kaufmann Munich, Germany
Quinn Kelsey Toronto, Canada
Isabel Leonard New York, New York
Ambrogio Maestri Lugano, Switzerland
Peter Mattei Bromma, Sweden
Erin Morley New Haven, Connecticut
Anna Netrebko and Yusif Eyvazov Vienna, Austria
Lisette Oropesa Baton Rouge, Louisiana
René Pape Dresden, Germany
Ailyn Pérez and Soloman Howard Chicago, Illinois
Matthew Polenzani Pelham, New York
Anita Rachvelishvili Tbilisi, Georgia
Golda Schultz Bavaria, Germany
Nadine Sierra Valencia, Spain
Bryn Terfel and Hannah Stone Wales
Elza van den Heever Montpellier, France
Michael Volle Berlin, Germany
Sonya Yoncheva Geneva, Switzerland
Original Air Date: 04/25/2020
SID.20170646
In its most ambitious effort yet to bring the joy and artistry of opera to audiences everywhere during the Met’s closure, the company will present an unprecedented virtual At-Home Gala, featuring more than 40 leading artists performing in a live stream from their homes all around the world. The event will take place Saturday, April 25, at 1 p.m. EDT, and will be available for free on the Met’s website. General Manager Peter Gelb and Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin will host from their homes in New York City and Montreal, respectively. Mr. Nézet-Séguin will also participate in the gala as a pianist, and will be featured as conductor in pre-recorded performances by the Met Orchestra and Chorus, which will be created from individual takes from the homes of each of the musicians in the days leading up to the gala. After the live showing, the gala will be made available for on demand viewing on the Met website until 6:30 p.m. EDT the following day. The At-Home Gala is part of the Met’s urgent “The Voice Must Be Heard” fundraising campaign to support the company and protect its future.”