Nightly Met Opera Streams presents a week of Yannick Nézet-Séguin

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 EDT 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.

Canadian-born conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin became the Met’s Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director with the beginning of the 2018–19 season, during which he conducted a new production of Verdi’s La Traviata, revivals of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande and Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites, and concerts with the Met Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. He made his company debut in 2009 with a new production of Bizet’s Carmen and has since returned every season, conducting new productions of Verdi’s Don Carlo, Gounod’s Faust, and Verdi’s Otello, as well as revivals of Dvořák’s Rusalka, La Traviata, Richard Strauss’s Elektra, and Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer and Parsifal. He has been music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra since 2012 and held the same position with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra—where he now serves as honorary conductor—between 2008 and 2018. Since 2000, he has served as artistic director and principal conductor of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain.

Monday, November 16
Verdi’s Don Carlo
Starring Marina Poplavskaya, Roberto Alagna, Simon Keenlyside, and Ferruccio Furlanetto, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. From December 11, 2010.

Director Nicholas Hytner, who made his Met debut with this production, brings out all the passionate intensity that is at the heart of Verdi’s monumental drama. Don Carlo (Roberto Alagna), the Spanish crown prince, and Elizabeth of Valois (Marina Poplavskaya), daughter of the King of France, fall in love, only to be torn apart by international politics when Carlo’s father, King Philip II (Ferruccio Furlanetto), decides to marry Elizabeth himself. Carlo’s friend, Rodrigo (Simon Keenlyside), plays a dangerous game, balancing his political aims with the trust of his monarch. And when the beautiful Princess Eboli (Anna Smirnova) discovers her love for Don Carlo is not returned, her revenge terribly backfires.

Tuesday, November 17
Gounod’s Faust
Starring Marina Poplavskaya, Jonas Kaufmann, and René Pape, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. From December 10, 2011.

Tenor Jonas Kaufmann is riveting as the title character of Gounod’s popular opera, seen in this Live in HD presentation of Des McAnuff’s thrilling 2011 production that places the mythical and timeless story in an early 20th-century setting. René Pape as Méphistophélès is menacing and elegant in equal measure, and Marina Poplavskaya delivers a searingly intense portrayal of the innocent Marguerite. Russell Braun as her brother, Valentin, shines in his Act II aria.

Wednesday, November 18
Dvořák’s Rusalka
Starring Renée Fleming, Emily Magee, Dolora Zajick, Piotr Beczała, and John Relyea, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. From February 8, 2014.

Since her 2013 debut as Magda in La Rondine, Kristine Opolais has become familiar to Met audiences in the works of Giacomo Puccini. In 2016, the soprano’s performances as the title heroine of Dvořák’s Rusalka allowed her to show off another of her signature roles. In a new production by Mary Zimmerman, this classic tale of a water sprite yearning to become a human to find love starts as a whimsical fairytale but quickly develops into a heartbreaking tragedy. On the podium, Sir Mark Elder leads a stirring account of Dvořák’s score, drawing a rich palette of musical colors from the Met Orchestra. Tenor Brandon Jovanovich gives a virile performance as the infatuated Prince, alongside bass Eric Owens as Rusalka’s father, the Water Gnome, and Jamie Barton as the devilish sorceress Ježibaba.

Thursday, November 19
Verdi’s La Traviata
Starring Diana Damrau, Juan Diego Flórez, and Quinn Kelsey, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. From December 15, 2018.

Any new Met production of Verdi’s beloved tragedy La Traviata would be noteworthy, but Michael Mayer’s dazzling staging, which premiered during the 2018–19 season, was doubly significant as it marked Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s first performances as the Met’s Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director. On the podium for this Live in HD transmission, Nézet-Séguin leads a starry ensemble. As Violetta, the consumptive heroine fighting to find true happiness, soprano Diana Damrau delivers yet another compelling portrayal on the Met stage. Tenor Juan Diego Flórez sings his first Verdi role with the company, as Violetta’s ardent yet impetuous lover, Alfredo, and baritone Quinn Kelsey rounds out the principal cast as Giorgio Germont, Alfredo’s implacable father.

Friday, November 20
Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites
Starring Isabel Leonard, Adrianne Pieczonka, and Karita Mattila, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. From May 11, 2019.

Ever since John Dexter’s striking production marked the company premiere of Dialogues des Carmélites in 1977, Poulenc’s devastating masterpiece has been a favorite of Met audiences. To close out the 2018–19 season, Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin led a starry revival of the opera, which was also included as part of the Live in HD series of cinema transmissions. Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard is the fearful Blanche de la Force, who joins a convent of Carmelite nuns in order to escape the terrors of the French Revolution. The exceptional cast also features sopranos Erin Morley and Adrianne Pieczonka and mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill as some of Blanche’s fellow sisters, with tenor David Portillo as the protective Chevalier de la Force. Maestro Nézet-Séguin leads a gripping performance throughout—from the opera’s chaotic first bars to the chilling death scene of Madame de Croissy (sung by the incomparable Karita Mattila) to the work’s harrowing final moments.

Saturday, November 21
Puccini’s Turandot
Starring Christine Goerke, Eleonora Buratto, Yusif Eyvazov, and James Morris, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. From October 12, 2019.

In recent seasons, Christine Goerke has summited some of the greatest heights of the Germanic soprano repertoire, appearing as the Dyer’s Wife in Die Frau ohne Schatten, the title character of Elektra, and Brünnhilde in the complete Ring cycle. She has also wowed audiences as Turandot, the icy princess at the heart of Puccini’s grand final masterpiece. In this performance from the 2019–20 Live in HD season, Goerke stars alongside tenor Yusif Eyvazov (as Calàf) and soprano Eleonora Buratto (as Liù) in Franco Zeffirelli’s classic staging, which dazzles with its opulent visions of mythic China. Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin is on the podium, drawing a vivid array of musical colors from the incomparable Met Orchestra and Chorus.

Sunday, November 22
Berg’s Wozzeck
Starring Elza van den Heever, Tamara Mumford, Christopher Ventris, Gerhard Siegel, Andrew Staples, Peter Mattei, and Christian Van Horn, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. From January 11, 2020.

Only two seasons into his tenure as the Met’s Jeannette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin has already proven himself a master across a wide range of repertory—from classics by Italian, French, and German composers to more adventurous operas from the 20th century. During the 2019–20 season, Maestro Nézet-Séguin took the podium to lead a powerful new production of Berg’s shocking modern masterpiece Wozzeck, directed by innovative artist, filmmaker, and director William Kentridge. In this performance from the Live in HD series, baritone Peter Mattei stars as the title character, making his role debut as the tormented soldier whose madness and paranoia ultimately drive him to murder. The exceptional cast also features soprano Elza van den Heever as Wozzeck’s dissatisfied lover, Marie, and tenors Gerhard Siegel and Christopher Ventris and bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as his ruthless persecutors

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