Metropolitan Opera: Nightly Live HD Encore Stream Free (March 16-22; 7:30 PM EST)

Wow - that's amazing. I saw recently saw Porgy and Bess and Madame Butterfly in the theater, so this is pretty cool.

i'm really enjoying this / thanks OP

If you can get a free trial to the site, do it. I recommend:

Don Giovanni: Gigolo (and his bitchy servant) gets his comeuppance. With Kwiecen, Pisaroni, and Kocan who all sound great. This was the first serious opera I watched as newcomer.

Rigoletto: Las Vegas comedian in the 1960s tries to protect his daughter from sleazeballs. This has really cool costumes, neon production design, and some pole dancing. I think this was controversial to old critics since it so different from typical stagings, but it seemed to work.

do they charge monthly for access to archival / hd offerings? and rotate titles? thanks in advance

OP, the following week is ALL Wagner (the Ring, etc.).

Elina Garanca's Carmen is amazing, from the clips that I've seen.

R6 I put it on Monday night, thinking I would just listen to the music as I did other things (I've seen Carmen many, many times), but I ended up glued to the tv. She was fantastic.

OP here; glad everyone is enjoying this! Yes, some very unique adaptations of the classics. This weekend includes:

Saturday, March 21:

Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, starring Anna Netrebko, Piotr Beczała, and Mariusz Kwiecien, conducted by Marco Armiliato.

Sunday, March 22:

Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, starring Renée Fleming, Ramón Vargas, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, conducted by Valery Gergiev.

Hey, the free trial is for a week and you get access to all old videos and audio they have dating back to the 1940s. After that it is about $14 a month. I haven't run out of things to watch and they have good reference materials.

I also recommend: The Magic Flute- condensed family friendly version of a prince, princess, and lonely bird man/hunter going through a masonry influenced set of trials. *Die Zauberflote is the German language version that is longer and a little more serious in tone. Either way, it's fun, with incredible music. The worst thing I've heard about the full version is that it is a little confusing, but should be fine for a newbie.

-You may enjoy looking up alternate versions of these from other countries, too.

-Reading the synopsis beforehand is really helpful, they don't feel like spoilers since each company's execution and variation are very different. A great funny opera may be performed by people who are just not very funny. Or the leads may not have any romantic chemistry at all, which is not uncommon.

-The Marriage of Figaro is a lot of bullshit servants running around and the music is overhyped.

-R3

thanks!

There's still another week of free streams ahead. Tonight (through tomorrow 6:30 pm EST) is Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.

Sunday, 3/29: Wagner's Tannhauser

Monday, 3/30: Poulenc's Diaglogues des Carmelites

Tuesday, 3/31: Rossinni's Il Barbieri di Siviglia

Wedesday, 4/1: Adam's Nixon in China

Thursday, 4/2: Verdi's Don Carlo

Friday, April 3: Les Pecheurs de Perles

Saturday, April 4: Verdi's MacBeth

Sunday, April 5: Bellini's Norma

Maestro Levine... any update on him?

Die! Fliddermaus! Die!

I wouldn't be surprised if the Levine victims sue the Met and settle. The Met admitted there were credible claims going back at least 25 YEARS.

That could drive out the current administration/executives. More abuse firings and "retirements" to come, I'm sure, in cities like Boston and Philadelphia. No way he's the only one.

[quote] Maestro Levine... any update on him?

Yes, he screamed "MARY!" when he heard you referred to him as "Maestro Levine" on an Internet forum.

The Met is on shaky financial ground. I don't know if it could handle a wave of lawsuits. I doubt that Levine will be heard from again, R12. He seemed quite ill when the Met fired him; he really wasn't in any position to conduct anymore. He and the Met settled his lawsuit, although the terms have never been leaked.

The Ring Cycle just about did me in.

It was great - but man, that motherfucker is long.

I wondered if you could put that set on Spin Cycle - and cut out about 4 hours.

Deborah Voight was great, and I remember Siegfried's Jay Hunter Morris from when he was in "Master Class" on Broadway with Zoe Caldwell (but Audra McDonald was out and her understudy was great). Morris was a last minute replacement for the broadcast and did a great job in one of the most difficult roles in opera. Plus, he was very cute!

Every time the camera would catch Levine ... did anybody else shudder?

I'd hardly look up from my score in the orchestra when he was conducting --- now Armiliato, he was kind of a dish

Or you could just cut to the chase.

Matthew Polenzani / Pearl tenor

those tattoos ?? not fake/ but real?

So this was announced for students and educators, a weekly broadcast 5PM EST on Wednesdays with discussions afterwards and available for 24 hours.

^^^ Should be 48 hours!

Billy Budd on an unlisted channel. Great for those who want a relatively modern opera in English. No subtitles, but watch it before it disappears.

The nightly streams are continuing from the MET. Hope everyone's enjoying them. Tonight is La Traviata.

Tomorrow (Saturday, April 25)

Listening to La Traviata now.

I can't believe any DLers would actually tune into this Netrebko et. al. garbage. Watching the destruction of Western Opera in recent decades is one of the most depressing things I've had to experience.

Is Netrebko playing Violetta, r29? She's a FOP. I got rid of my Netrebko CDs. Also that Russian conductor.

I'm think I'm with R29. I love the music but I spend the first act getting used to the awful singing I'm going to have to put up with for the rest of the night. There is nothing a like a live performance for showing you all the skill the composer and librettist have poured into the work, so I guess I'm going to continue getting passed the singing!

You can comment along over at Parterre Box, if you are a hyper-knowledgable opera queen or enjoy basking in their glow.

In another year or two they will be presenting Ed Sheeran as Siegfried.

I liked Hvorostovsky, but I love "Di Provenza" no matter who sings it.