Opera Catalog

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Librettist: Antonio Ghislanzoni

Levine; Millo, Zajick, Domingo, Milnes, Kavrakos

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Chorus and Ballet

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 37 min.

Sonja Frisell’s production captures all the grandeur and excitement of Verdi’s monumental opera, particularly the great triumphal scene where the Egyptian army, led by Plácido Domingo (Radamès), returns victorious from war. Aprile Millo is Aida, the slave girl whose love for Radamès has her squaring off with Amneris (Dolora Zajick), the Egyptian princess who also loves him. Sherrill Milnes is Amonasro, and James Levine leads the Met orchestra, chorus, and ballet.

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Librettist: Antonio Ghislanzoni

Levine; Price, Cossotto, McCracken, Estes, Macurdy

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Chorus and Ballet

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 45 min.

This was one of the most emotional evenings in Met history—the night Leontyne Price bid farewell to opera. Aida is the role that inspired audiences around the world to acclaim her as the greatest Verdi soprano of her time. And this telecast shows why: the famous soaring phrases that seemed to never end, the shimmering top to her lustrous voice, undimmed by the years. But most of all, there is the ennobling heart and soul Price lavished on every performance—captured here forever. With James Levine conducting the Met orchestra, chorus, and ballet.

Composer: Various
Librettist: Various

Marco Armiliato
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

Approximate running time: 1 hrs. 47 min.

The Audition, directed by award-winning filmmaker Susan Froemke, looks at the intense pressures young opera singers face as they struggle to succeed in one of the most difficult professions in the performing arts. The feature-length documentary takes you behind the scenes at the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions, where each year thousands of hopefuls compete for a cash prize, the chance to sing on the Met stage—and the opportunity to launch a major operatic career.

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Librettist: Antonio Somma

Patanè; Ricciarelli, Blegen, Berini, Pavarotti, Quilico

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Chorus and Ballet

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 25 min.

Director Elijah Moshinsky’s production sets Verdi’s poignant opera in colonial Boston, where Riccardo (Luciano Pavarotti) is the British governor, in love with his best friend’s wife. “Perhaps the most complete role for a tenor…a severe test, both vocally and dramatically,” is how Pavarotti described his role. Of course, he’s brilliant—with his distinctive plangent and ringing voice going straight to the heart of the role and to the hearts of the audience. A gorgeous Katia Ricciarelli is the woman he loves and Louis Quilico is her unforgiving husband.

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Librettist: Antonio Somma

Levine; Millo, Blackwell, Quivar, Pavarotti, Nucci

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 15 min.

This atmospheric production by Piero Faggioni, conducted by James Levine, captures all the brooding power and elegance of Verdi’s drama of love and politics. Luciano Pavarotti stars as Riccardo, the unlucky ruler in love with his best friend’s wife, Amelia (Aprile Millo). Leo Nucci is the husband torn between loyalty and his thirst for revenge, and Florence Quivar sings Ulrica, the fortuneteller who prophesizes the tragic ending.

Composer: Gioachino Rossini
Librettist: Cesare Sterbini

Benini; DiDonato, Flórez, Mattei, Del Carlo, Relyea

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 45 min.

Audiences went wild for Bartlett Sher’s dynamic production, which found fresh and surprising ways to bring Rossini’s effervescent comedy closer to them than ever before. The stellar cast leapt to the challenge with irresistible energy and bravura vocalism. Juan Diego Flórez is Count Almaviva, who fires off showstopping coloratura as he woos Joyce DiDonato’s spirited Rosina—with assistance from Peter Mattei as the one and only Figaro, Seville’s beloved barber and man-about-town.

Composer: Giacomo Puccini
Librettist: Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa

Levine; Scotto, Niska, Pavarotti, Wixell

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 2 min.

Puccini’s heartbreaking story of young love in the garrets of Belle Epoque Paris has attracted many famous singers through the years. But with James Levine at the helm and the starry duo of Luciano Pavarotti and Renata Scotto as Rodolfo and Mimě, every bit of emotion in the score pours across the footlights and seduces the audience. In this case, the audience was in the millions since this was the very first in the “Live from the Met” series of telecasts. The evocative production is by Fabrizio Melano, designed by Pier Luigi Pizzi.

Composer: Giacomo Puccini
Librettist: Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa

Luisotti; Gheorghiu, Arteta, Vargas, Tézier

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 16 min.

Puccini’s evergreen paean to young love and the bohemian life has captivated generations of Met-goers through Franco Zeffirelli’s iconic production. Movie theater audiences for the high-definition transmission of this staging got to see it with fresh eyes in a touching performance starring Angela Gheorghiu and Ramón Vargas as the frail seamstress and her poetic lover.

Composer: Giacomo Puccini
Librettist: Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa

Levine; Stratas, Scotto, Carreras, Stilwell

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 4 min.

Franco Zeffirelli’s sensational production of Puccini’s haunting opera of young love is one of the great classics in the history of the Met. Many great singers have appeared in it over the years, but there is something especially endearing about this magical first cast: the touching and fragile Teresa Stratas as the dying Mimi, and young, handsome José Carreras as her passionate lover, Rodolfo. A flamboyant Renata Scotto is the irrepressible Musetta. James Levine conducts with his special combination of sensitivity and verve.

Composer: Pietro Mascagni & Ruggiero Leoncavallo
Librettist: Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti, Guido Menasci and Ruggiero Leoncavallo

Levine; Troyanos, Domingo, Shinall, Stratas, Milnes

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 31 min.

This video captures a real rarity: one of the very few times the brilliant Plácido Domingo performed both of the great tenors roles during the same evening at the Met. Domingo singing either Turiddu (in Cavalleria) or Canio (in Pagliacci) would be remarkable, but to get both in the same incandescent performance is to see history. With James Levine’s passionate conducting, Franco Zeffirelli’s iconic production, and the sensational singing actors Tatiana Troyanos (Santuzza), Teresa Stratas (Nedda), and Sherrill Milnes (Tonio), these searing one-act operas blaze.

Composer: Gioachino Rossini
Librettist: Jacopo Ferretti

Levine; Bartoli, Vargas, Alaimo, Corbelli

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 30 min.

The enchanting Cecilia Bartoli was the first singer to perform Rossini’s comedy at the Met, and people clamored for tickets to the long-sold out performances. This retelling of the classic Cinderella story has some delightful twists—like Dandini (the very funny Alessandro Corbelli), the valet to the prince who’s disguised as the prince and who also falls in love with Cenerentola. But of course, she’s destined for Prince Ramiro (Ramón Vargas). James Levine brings out all the color and humor of Rossini’s marvelous score.

Composer: Gioachino Rossini
Librettist: Jacopo Ferretti

Benini; Garanča, Brownlee, Corbelli, Alberghini

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 43 min.

If ever a composer was born to set the enchanting fairy tale of Cinderella to sparkling music it was Rossini. His much put upon heroine Angelina (Elīna Garanča) has to cope not only with nasty stepsisters, but also an over-the-top, farcical father, Don Magnifico (Alessandro Corbelli). And in this version the Prince (Lawrence Brownlee) and his valet (Simone Alberghini) swap identities, which causes no end of delightful confusion. With Cesare Lievi’s delightful storybook production and Maurizio Benini’s expert conducting, it’s all as light and delicious as a marvelous musical soufflé.