For opera lovers who don’t dwell in an enormous metropolis with an opera firm, the Metropolitan Opera’s Reside in HD is a Godsend. All of it started on December 30, 2006, as a part of its effort to draw new audiences and enhance its backside line, the Met broadcast a collection of six performances dwell to pick film theatres within the States and in Canada.

I’ve very fond recollections of seeing that abridged model of The Magic Flute within the cinema – what marvellous units, and eccentric costumes for all of the characters, human and in any other case! Gary Halvorson directed the fantastic American tenor Matthew Polenzani and the Chinese language soprano Ying Huang because the younger lovers Tamino and Pamina. This abridged model remains to be revived at Christmas time.

Most of the dwell transmissions had been later rebroadcast by the PBS tv community as a part of the Nice Performances on the Met collection. That mentioned, seeing it dwell, in actual time, is a luxurious for these of us not capable of journey to New York to see it. At $28 ($25 for seniors) a Cineplex ticket, it’s a fraction of what one must pay in-person, but you continue to get all the thrill. There are additionally encores. Particulars right here.

The 2023-24 season Met HD lineup has 9 operas, at all times the Saturday matinée efficiency beginning at 12:55 pm, except in any other case famous. Encore occasions fluctuate, do seek the advice of the web site. The season begins on October 21 with Jake Heggie’s Useless Man Strolling, and ends with Madama Butterfly on Could 11.

Just a few observations. At 9 operas, it’s one shorter than the final couple of seasons. For the primary time in reminiscence, there are three modern works in a single season, ie. Useless Man Strolling, X: The Life and Instances of Malcolm X, and Florencia en el Amazonas. It’s an indication that the notably tradition-bound Met Opera is altering. The casting additionally shifts to incorporate extra artists of color, whereas not sacrificing the all-important musical and inventive excellence.
With such a brief season, notably there’s no German opera, and no Mozart! Right here’s my private tackle this 12 months’s choices. It doesn’t matter what’s your choice, you will be positive it’ll be opera on the highest degree, at all times an expertise to cherish:

Useless Man Strolling (Heggie) October 21, 2023 (Encore: November 4, 2023)

The Jake Heggie opera is touted as essentially the most carried out twenty first century opera. The story is well-known in fashionable tradition, due to the film starring Susan Sarandon. Heggie’s opera is tonal and accessible. You received’t go away the cinema buzzing a tune, however the work is deeply transferring. It’s primarily based on Sister Helen Prejean’s ebook about her try to avoid wasting the soul of Joseph De Rocher, a assassin on demise row. I noticed it at Opera Montreal some years in the past with mezzo Allyson McHardy and baritone Etienne Dupuis, and it moved me to tears. Met Music Director Yannick Nezet-Seguin conducts, with an distinctive forged of Joyce DiDonato (Sister Helen Prejean), Ryan McKinney (De Rocher), and Susan Graham, the unique Sister Prejean, now singing the position of De Rocher’s mom.

Right here’s Joyce DiDonato singing Sister Helen’s heartfelt Act 1 aria:

X: The Life and Instances of Malcolm X (Davis) November 18, 2023 (Encore: January 13, 2024)

The 1986 opera concerning the lifetime of African American civil rights activist Malcolm X will premiere on the Met on November 3. Baritone Will Liverman, final seen in Hearth Shut Up in My Bones, sings Malcolm X; soprano Leah Hawkins sings his mom, Louise; and mezzo Raehann Bryce-Davis his sister Ella. To get a style of the expressive and highly effective work, go to this efficiency by the Boston Trendy Orchestra Undertaking right here.

Florencia en el Amazonas (Catán) December 9, 2023 (Encore: February 3, 2024)

Mexican composer Daniel Catán’s opera receives a brand new manufacturing by Mary Zimmerman, with American soprano Ailyn Perez within the title position. Additionally showing are soprano Gabriella Reyes and bass-baritone Greer Grimsley. The intriguing plot tells the story of a Brazilian opera singer who returns to her homeland to carry out within the Manaus opera home deep within the Amazon jungle, the place she searches for her misplaced lover who has vanished there. Yannick Nezet-Seguin conducts the luminous rating with lovely vocal writing. You’ll be able to pattern it on this lovely efficiency by American soprano Sheri Greenawald, the unique Florencia, in a 1999 manufacturing right here.

Nabucco (Verdi) January 6, 2024 (Encore: February 24, 2024)

After three comparatively unfamiliar works to open the HD season, it’s adopted by Nabucco, an early Verdi piece and his first nice success. This Met revival boasts a terrific forged in George Gagnidze, a real Verdi baritone, within the title position. Abigaille is Ukrainian dramatic soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska, and Ukrainian bass Dmitry Belosselskiy is Zaccaria. A spotlight would be the Met Refrain within the stirring “Va, pensiero.” Right here’s Monastyrska singing with fierce vocalism an excerpt:

Carmen (Bizet) January 27, 2024 (Encore: March 2, 2024)

The Bizet masterpiece receives a brand new manufacturing by British director Carrie Cracknell. She’s updating the story to the current day, fairly uncommon for the Met and its conservative audiences. It stays to be seen the way it’ll be acquired. This revival incorporates a magnificent forged, led by the exceptional 27-year-old Russian mezzo Aigul Akhmetshina as Carmen. Her voice is beautiful, and her musicianship is impeccable for somebody so younger. Singing Don Jose is the Polish tenor Piotr Beczala. American soprano Angel Blue is Micaela, and American bass-baritone Kyle Ketelson is Escamillo. Daniele Rustioni conducts. To not be missed. Right here’s Akhmetshina singing Habanera:

La Forza del Destino (Verdi) March 9, 2024 (Encore: April 6, 2024)

A extremely anticipated occasion this season is the looks of soprano Lise Davidsen because the Forza Leonora. Thought of the best soprano from Norway since Kirsten Flagstad, Davidsen has a shocking spinto soprano, big in quantity with a really beautiful timbre, perfect in Italian, German and Russian operas. Mariusz Trelinski directs a brand new Forza manufacturing, the Met’s first in 30 years. The nice forged consists of tenor Brian Jagde (Don Alvaro), Igor Solovatenko (Don Carlo), Ekaterina Semenchuk (Preziosilla), and Soloman Howard (Padre Guardiano). Forza is a little bit of a marathon, clocking in almost 4 and a half hours with two intermissions, nevertheless it’s Verdi at his most impressed. Yannick Nezet-Seguin conducts. Take a look at Lise Davidsen singing the showstopper “Tempo, tempo, mio Dio” right here.

Romeo et Juliette (Gounod) March 23, 2024 (Encore: April 27, 2024)

The Gounod masterpiece returns to the Met in Barlett Sher’s opulent manufacturing, with French tenor sensation Benjamin Bernheim and the fantastic American soprano Nadine Sierra because the star-crossed lovers. Will Liverman is Mercutio and Samantha Hankey sings Stephano. Yannick Nezet-Seguin conducts. Right here’s Bernheim singing Romeo’s beautiful aria “Ah! Leve toi soleil” from a efficiency in Bordeaux:

La Rondine (Puccini) April 20, 2024 (Encore: Could 25, 2024)

The hardly ever carried out Puccini opera will get its second within the solar in Nicolas Joël’s lovely manufacturing, resituated from Paris to the French Riviera. It stars American soprano Angel Blue as Magda, reverse the brand new Chilean American tenor sensation Jonathan Tetelman as Ruggero. American soprano Emily Pogorelc is Lisette and Uzbekistani tenor Bekhzod Davronov is Prunier. Italian Maestra Speranza Scappucci, who carried out so splendidly on the COC, is on the helm. Pattern a recital by Angel Blue, her first aria is Magda’s “Che il bel sogno di Doretta” from La Rondine right here.

Madama Butterfly (Puccini) Could 11, 2024 (Encore: June 8, 2024)

The season concludes with one other Puccini gem, starring quick rising Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian as Cio Cio San in a revival of the exceptional Anthony Minghella manufacturing of Madama Butterfly. Grigorian was just lately named the Opus Klassik Singer of the 12 months, and it’s straightforward to see why – she combines a phenomenal voice with unusual musicality and emotional depth. Pinkerton is tenor Jonathan Teleman; and mezzo Elizabeth DeShong is Suzuki, a job she sang so memorably with the COC just a few seasons in the past. Baritone Lucas Meachem is Sharpless. Chinese language American Maestra Xian Zhang conducts. Grigorian sings the Butterfly’s aria “Un bel di”magnificently right here.

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Joseph So is Professor Emeritus at Trent College and Affiliate Editor of Opera Canada.He’s additionally a long-time contributor to La Scena Musicale and Opera (London, UK). His curiosity in music journalism focuses on voice, opera in addition to symphonic and piano repertoires. He seems usually as a panel member of the Large COC Podcast.He has co-edited a ebook, Opera in a Multicultural World: Coloniality, Tradition, Efficiency, printed by Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group).

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