2012–13 Live in HD Schedule

Handel’s Giulio Cesare—New Production

April 27, 2013, 12 pm ET
Final 2012–13 Transmission

U.S. Encore: Wednesday, May 15, 2013 at 6:30 pm local time
Canada Encores: Saturday, June 1, 2013 at 12:00 pm local time
                           Monday, June 3, 2013 at 6:30 pm local time

The opera that conquered London in Handel’s time comes to the Met in David McVicar’s lively production. The world’s leading countertenor, David Daniels, sings the title role opposite Natalie Dessay as Cleopatra. Baroque specialist Harry Bicket conducts.

Synopsis available in English and Japanese

Approximate runtime: 4:31

Performance Program    Cast Sheet and Synopsis

Past Events

Donizetti’s L'Elisir d'Amore–New Production

October 13, 2012, 12:55 pm ET

U.S. Encore: Wednesday, November 7, 2012 at 6:30 pm local time
Canada Encores: Saturday, November 17, 2012 at 12:00 pm local time
                           Monday, November 19, 2012 at 6:30 pm local time

Anna Netrebko and Matthew Polenzani star in Bartlett Sher's new production of one of the greatest comic gems in opera, as the fickle Adina and her besotted Nemorino. Mariusz Kwiecien is the blustery sergeant Belcore and Ambrogio Maestri is Dulcamara, the loveable quack and dispenser of the elixir. Maurizio Benini conducts.

"A handsome and insightful new staging... [Anna Netrebko's] singing is feisty and earthy one moment, poignant and shimmering the next... Polenzani is coming into his prime...He holds back nothing here. Over all, this psychologically charged take on Elisir is fascinating." (NYT)

Synopsis available in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish

Approximate runtime: 3:02

Performance Program    Cast Sheet and Synopsis

Verdi’s Otello

October 27, 2012, 12:55 pm ET

U.S. Encore: Wednesday, November 14, 2012 at 6:30 pm local time
Canada Encores: Saturday, November 24, 2012 at 12:00 pm local time
                           Monday, December 3, 2012 at 6:30 pm local time

Verdi’s Shakespearean masterpiece returns to the Met with Johan Botha in the title role opposite the acclaimed Desdemona of star soprano Renée Fleming. Semyon Bychkov conducts.

Synopsis available in English, German, and Japanese

Approximate runtime: 3:27

Performance Program    Cast Sheet and Synopsis

Adès’s The Tempest—Met Premiere

November 10, 2012, 12:55 pm ET

U.S. Encore: Wednesday, November 28, 2012 at 6:30 pm local time
Canada Encore: Saturday, January 12, 2013 at 12:00 pm local time

Composer Thomas Adès conducts the Metropolitan Opera premiere of his own work, with baritone Simon Keenlyside starring as Prospero. Director Robert Lepage recreates the interior of 18th-century La Scala in this inventive staging.

Synopsis available in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish

Approximate runtime: 3:00

Performance Program    Cast Sheet and Synopsis

Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito

December 1, 2012, 12:55 pm ET

U.S. Encore: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 at 6:30 pm local time
Canada Encores: Monday, January 21, 2013 at 6:30 pm local time
                          Saturday, January 26, 2013 at 12:00 pm local time

Elina Garanca, “sleek and beautiful, with a lustrous voice” (New York Post) is “a splendid interpreter” of Sesto; “she produces luminous sounds that seem to linger suspended in the air like shining pearls.”  (AP)

As Tito, Giuseppe Filianoti “soared to virile, commanding form,” and Barbara Frittoli “burned up the stage as the scheming Vitellia” (New York Post).

This “elegant” production (AP) is “more than the sum of its excellent parts” (New York Post).

Read an interview with Elina Garanca

Synopsis available in English and Japanese

Approximate runtime: 3:13

Performance Program    Cast Sheet and Synopsis

Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera—New Production

December 8, 2012, 12:55 pm ET

U.S. Encore: Wednesday, January 9, 2013 at 6:30 pm local time
Canada Encores: Saturday, February 9, 2013 at 12:00 pm local time
                           Monday, February 11, 2013 at 6:30 pm local time

Sondra Radvanovsky, Marcelo Álvarez, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky lead an “excellent cast who bring all the emotion, tenderness, and tension to a score that is both exciting and haunting.” (Huffington Post)

As the conflicted king, Marcelo Álvarez delivers one of his most dramatically charged and refined performances at the Met, [singing] with subtlety, shadings and soaring lyricism. Dmitri Hvorostovsky’s “trademark dark sound and supple phrasing… poignantly brought to life” the pain of the betrayed Count Anckarström. (New York Times)
Sondra Radvanovsky “was a special triumph, her powerful, penetrating voice filling the house with refulgent sound” in the role of Amelia. (AP)

Alden’s production is an “intriguing fresh look at one of the essential works of the repertory.” (Associated Press)

Synopsis available in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish

Approximate runtime: 3:54

Performance Program    Cast Sheet and Synopsis

Verdi’s Aida

December 15, 2012, 12:55 pm ET

U.S. Encore: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 at 6:30 pm local time
Canada Encores: Saturday, February 23, 2013 at 12:00 pm local time
                           Monday, February 25, 2013 at 6:30 pm local time

“Ms. Monastyrska, a native of Kiev, Ukraine, and an established star at that city’s opera house, comes to the Met a fully mature artist. She is gifted with a luscious round soprano that maintains its glow even in the softest notes. Her “O patria mia” was beautifully drawn and colored with darker inflections that added dramatic intensity.”

“The combined fervor of Olga Borodina as Amneris and Fabio Luisi at the helm of a fired-up orchestra made for an electrically charged and energetic performance” (New York Times).

Synopsis available in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish

Approximate runtime: 3:54

Performance Program    Cast Sheet and Synopsis

Berlioz’s Les Troyens

January 5, 2013, 12 pm ET

U.S. Encore: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 at 6:30 pm local time
Canada Encore: Saturday, March 9, 2013 at 12:00 pm local time

The Met offers a rare opportunity to witness Berlioz’s vast epic, last performed at the house in 2003. Deborah Voigt, Susan Graham, Marcello Giordani, and Dwayne Croft lead the starry cast, portraying characters from the Trojan War. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi marshals the large-scale musical forces.

Synopsis available in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish

Approximate runtime: 5:20

Performance Program    Cast Sheet and Synopsis

Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda—Met Premiere

January 19, 2013, 12:55 pm ET

U.S. Encore: Wednesday, February 6, 2013 at 6:30 pm local time
Canada Encores: Monday, March 18, 2013 at 6:30 pm local time
                          Saturday, March 23, 2013 at 12:00 pm local time

Joyce DiDonato's performance in the title role of Mary, Queen of Scots, "will be pointed to as a model of singing," full of "plush richness and aching beauty," in David McVicar's Met premiere production. Elza van den Heever is "a vocally burnished and emotionally tempestuous" Elizabeth (New York Times). "A luminous performance" (AP). Matthew Polenzani sings Leicester and Maurizio Benini conducts.

Synopsis available in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish

Approximate runtime: 3:15

Performance Program    Cast Sheet and Synopsis

Verdi’s Rigoletto– New Production

February 16, 2013, 12:55 pm ET

U.S. Encore: Wednesday, March 6, 2013 at 6:30 pm local time
Canada Encores: Saturday, April 6, 2013 at 12:00 pm local time
                           Monday, April 8, 2013 at 6:30 pm local time
                           Wednesday, April 24, 2013 at 6:30 pm local time

Director Michael Mayer has placed his new production of Verdi’s towering tragedy in Las Vegas in 1960.  Piotr Beczala is the womanizing Duke, Željko Lucic is his tragic sidekick, Rigoletto, and Diana Damrau is Rigoletto's daughter, Gilda.

Rigoletto in Rehearsal
Joyce DiDonato interviews Michael Mayer, Zeljko Lucic, and Piotr Beczala – who sings “Questa o quella” in a C-level rehearsal room!

Synopsis available in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish

Approximate runtime: 3:31

Performance Program    Cast Sheet and Synopsis

Wagner’s Parsifal–New Production

March 2, 2013, 12 pm ET

U.S. Encore: Wednesday, March 20, 2013 at 6:30 pm local time
Canada Encore: Saturday, April 20, 2013 at 12:00 pm local time

Jonas Kaufmann stars in the title role of the innocent who finds wisdom in François Girard's new vision for Wagner's final masterpiece. His fellow Wagnerian luminaries include Katarina Dalayman as the mysterious Kundry, Peter Mattei as the ailing Amfortas, Evgeny Nikitin as the wicked Klingsor, and René Pape as the noble knight Gurnemanz. Daniele Gatti conducts.

Synopsis available in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish

Approximate runtime: 5:40

Performance Program    Cast Sheet and Synopsis

Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini

March 16, 2013, 12 pm ET

U.S. Encore: Wednesday, April 3, 2013 at 6:30 pm local time
Canada Encore: Saturday, May 4, 2013 at 12:00 pm pm local time
    

Zandonai's compelling opera, inspired by an episode from Dante's Inferno, returns in the Met's ravishingly beautiful production, last seen in 1986. Soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek and tenor Marcello Giordani are the doomed lovers. Marco Armiliato conducts.

Synopsis available in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish

Approximate runtime: 3:57

Performance Program    Cast Sheet and Synopsis