The
Magic Flute
Celebrated
director and filmmaker Julie
Taymor, who directed The Lion
King on Broadway, brings her
dynamic theatrical vision to
Mozart’s The Magic Flute.
Dancing bears, flying birds, a
giant serpent—all are brought
vividly to life through Taymor’s
ingenious use of puppetry. This
abridged 100-minute version of
Mozart’s opera is sung in
English and features a winning
young cast conducted by beloved
Met Maestro James Levine.
I Puritani
The
sensational Russian soprano Anna
Netrebko (“Audrey Hepburn with a
voice,” according to one critic)
has taken the opera world by
storm, dazzling audiences in
Vienna, Milan, Berlin, New York,
and Los Angeles. Now she
inhabits the role of the fragile
Elvira in Bellini’s I Puritani,
who delivers one of opera’s
wildest mad scenes when she is
abandoned at the altar. With its
vocal fireworks and
opportunities for real acting,
this has been a supreme role for
great singing actresses from
Maria Callas to Beverly Sills.
The First Emperor
The
world-premiere broadcast of
Chinese composer Tan Dun’s epic
opera, The First Emperor,
features the legendary tenor
Plácido Domingo as Emperor Qin,
who built the Great Wall and
gave China its name. Tan Dun’s
music is a fascinating mix of
East and West, and the
monumental production is staged
by revered Chinese filmmaker
Zhang Yimou (Raise the Red
Lantern and House of Flying
Daggers), with costumes by
Oscar-winning designer Emi Wada
(Kurosawa’s Ran).
Eugene Onegin
The beloved
American soprano Renée Fleming
joins Russian baritone Dmitri
Hvorostovsky for this broadcast
of Tchaikovsky’s gorgeous and
lyrical Eugene Onegin. The
sweeping dramatic arc of this
opera—youthful longing,
rejection, regret, a desperate
plea that comes too late—is
perfectly mirrored in
Tchaikovsky’s achingly beautiful
music and in the stunning
lighting of this strikingly
minimal production.
The Barber of Seville (Il
Barbiere di Siviglia)
The instantly
familiar music of Rossini’s The
Barber of Seville (Il Barbiere
di Siviglia) has been featured
in cartoons, commercials, and TV
shows galore, but it’s best
heard in its original form,
where its infectious charm and
bubbling joy are given free
reign. In the Met’s new
production, by acclaimed theater
director Bartlett Sher and his
Tony Award-winning team from The
Light in the Piazza, the dashing
young Peruvian tenor Juan Diego
Flórez proves why he is one of
the world’s greatest Rossini
singers, in his calling-card
role of Count Almaviva.
Il Trittico
Jealousy,
murder, suicide, religious
rapture, intrigue, young love!
No, it isn’t a soap opera— it’s
Puccini’s triple-bill of one-act
operas, Il Trittico. This
gripping new production by
Broadway luminary (and Tony
Award-winner) Jack O’Brien and a
team of leading theater
designers showcases the amazing
technical resources of the Met
stage as well as a brilliant
ensemble cast, not to mention
Puccini at his most hauntingly
lyrical and dramatic. The Met’s
celebrated music director, James
Levine, conducts. |
The
Metropolitan Opera Goes to the
Movies