Opera’s Greatest Heroines at the Met – January 18-24, 2021

Nightly Met Opera Streams presents a week of Leading Ladies: Opera’s Greatest Heroines

Each day, a different encore presentation from the company’s Live in HD series is being made available for free streaming on the Met website, with each performance available for a period of 23 hours, from 7:30 pm ET until 6:30 pm the following day. The schedule will include outstanding complete performances from the past 14 years of cinema transmissions, starring all of opera’s greatest singers.

Monday, January 18, 2021
Bizet’s Carmen
Starring Anita Hartig, Anita Rachvelishvili, Aleksandrs Antonenko, and Ildar Abdrazakov, conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado. From November 1, 2014.

Georgian mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili gives a dynamic performance as Bizet’s iconic gypsy, the woman who lives by her own rules. Aleksandrs Antonenko is Don José, the soldier who falls under her spell, and Ildar Abdrazakov plays Escamillo, the swaggering bullfighter who takes Carmen away from Don José—an action that seals Carmen’s tragic fate. Anita Hartig is Micaëla, and Pablo Heras-Casado conducts Richard Eyre’s hit production, set in 1930s Spain.

Tuesday, January 19, 2021
Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor
Starring Anna Netrebko, Piotr Beczała, Mariusz Kwiecień, and Ildar Abdrazakov, conducted by Marco Armiliato. From February 7, 2009.

Star soprano Anna Netrebko adds Donizetti’s hapless heroine to her growing list of Met triumphs in this production by Mary Zimmerman that updates the events to the 19th century. Rising young tenor sensation Piotr Beczała is Edgardo and Mariusz Kwiecien plays Lucia’s brother Enrico whose brutal authority forces her to deny her heart and marry for the sake of her family. The famous mad scene brilliantly depicts the cascading fragments of Lucia’s disintegrating mind.

Wednesday, January 20, 2021
Bellini’s Norma
Starring Sondra Radvanovsky, Joyce DiDonato, Joseph Calleja, and Matthew Rose, conducted by Carlo Rizzi. From October 7, 2017.

The blazing title role of Bellini’s Norma has been a star-making vehicle for some of opera’s most beloved sopranos, so when Sondra Radvanovsky first took on the part at the Met in 2013, it marked a new chapter of her career. She returned four years later to reprise her riveting portrayal, this time opening the 2017–18 season in an evocative new production by Sir David McVicar. Captured live in HD, her performance is nothing less than a tour-de-force, combining dramatic commitment with true bel canto singing—Radvanovsky balances the role’s powerful intensity with moments of delicate lyricism. As Adalgisa, the young priestess torn between love and duty, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato delivers an interpretation imbued with great emotional nuance. Tenor Joseph Calleja is the aggressive Roman proconsul Pollione, with Matthew Rose as Norma’s father, the warrior Oroveso. Leading the Met Orchestra and Chorus, maestro Carlo Rizzi draws out the vibrant color of Bellini’s masterful score.

Thursday, January 21, 2021
Verdi’s La Traviata
Starring Natalie Dessay, Matthew Polenzani, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, conducted by Fabio Luisi. From April 14, 2012.

Willy Decker’s stunning production of Verdi’s unforgettable drama stars the riveting singing actress Natalie Dessay as Violetta. Exhausted by her restless life as a courtesan, Violetta knows she will die soon. But then she meets the young and idealistic Alfredo (Matthew Polenzani), who offers her true love—with tragic consequences. Dmitri Hvorostovsky is Giorgio Germont, Alfredo’s stern father, and Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi is on the podium.

Friday, January 22, 2021
Puccini’s Tosca
Starring Hildegard Behrens, Plácido Domingo, and Cornell MacNeil, conducted by Giuseppe Sinopoli. From March 27, 1985.

Franco Zeffirelli’s productions are legendary—and for good reason. This new production of Puccini’s intensely dramatic opera had opened only two weeks before this performance and the excitement is palpable. Zeffirelli captures the overwhelming grandeur of Rome, as well as the dark undercurrent of decadence and corruption in the drama. Under his direction, the cast of great singing actors crackles with intensity. Hildegard Behrens as Tosca, the passionate singer in love with Cavaradossi (Plácido Domingo), who agrees to a night with Scarpia, the evil chief of police (Cornell MacNeil), in exchange for Cavaradossi’s freedom. Giuseppe Sinopoli conducts.

Saturday, January 23, 2021
Massenet’s Manon
Starring Lisette Oropesa, Michael Fabiano, Carlo Bosi, Artur Ruciński, Brett Polegato, and Kwangchul Youn, conducted by Maurizio Benini. From October 26, 2019.

Ever since graduating from the Met’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, Lisette Oropesa has had a meteoric career around the world, excelling in some of the pinnacles of the soprano repertoire. During the 2019–20 season, she returned to the Met stage to star in her largest role with the company to date, the irresistible heroine of Massenet’s Manon. As the young ingénue, Oropesa delivers a stunning performance, marked by brilliant coloratura, melting lyricism, and enchanting stage presence. Recorded as part of the Met’s Live in HD series of cinema transmissions, this performance also features tenor Michael Fabiano as the impetuous Chevalier des Grieux and baritone Artur Ruciński as Lescaut. Maurizio Benini is on the podium to lead one of the most passionate scores in the French operatic repertoire.

Sunday, January 24, 2021
Wagner’s Die Walküre
Starring Deborah Voigt, Eva-Maria Westbroek, Stephanie Blythe, Jonas Kaufmann, Bryn Terfel, and Hans-Peter König, conducted by James Levine. From May 14, 2011.

Robert Lepage’s landmark staging of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, unveiled over the course of the 2010–11 and 2011–12 seasons, was the first new Met production of the complete cycle in more than 20 years. Combining state-of-the-art technology with traditional storytelling, it brings Wagner’s vision into the 21st century. With Die Walküre, the story of the Ring enters the world of human beings. Jonas Kaufmann and Eva-Maria Westbroek are Siegmund and Sieglinde, the twin children of Wotan, sung by Bryn Terfel. Deborah Voigt stars in the title role of the Valkyrie Brünnhilde, Wotan’s favorite daughter. James Levine conducts.

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