The Metropolitan Opera Live in HD 2008 – 2009 Live Events

Here are basic details for The Metropolitan Opera Live Event Series. There are a total of 11 live events beginning on Monday, September 22nd, 2008 and ending on Saturday, May 9th, 2009. It is planned that public ticket sales will begin early August.

Salome

       · Title:  The Metropolitan Opera: Salome
       · Date:  Saturday, October 11th, 2008
       · Run Time:  97 minutes
       · Start Time:  10:00AM
       · Rating:  NR (Suitable for all Audiences)

Presenting the excitement of The Met: Live in HD on the Big Screen: The LIVE transmission of Strauss’ Salome will be shown for one day only on Saturday, October 11th at 10 AM. Karita Mattila caused a sensation when she sang Salome at the Met for the first time in 2004. She reprises her stunning interpretation of the part, including her unforgettable Dance of the Seven Veils; Mikko Franck conducts.

Doctor Atomic

       · Title:  The Metropolitan Opera: Doctor Atomic
       · Date:  Saturday, November 8th, 2008
       · Run Time:  201 minutes
       · Start Time:  10 AM
       · Rating:  NR (Suitable for all Audiences)

Presenting the excitement of The Met: Live in HD on the Big Screen: The LIVE transmission of John Adams’ Doctor Atomic will be shown for one day only on Saturday, November 8th at 10 AM.   John Adams’ contemporary masterpiece explores a momentous episode of modern history:  the creation of the atomic bomb.  Director Penny Woolcock makes her Met debut with this gripping story that changed the course of history.  Baritone Gerald Finley plays J. Robert Oppenheimer, with Alan Gilbert conducting.

La Damnation de Faust

       · Title:  The Metropolitan Opera: La Damnation de Faust
       · Date:  Saturday, November 22nd, 2008
       · Run Time:  165 minutes
       · Start Time:  10:00AM
       · Rating:  NR (Suitable for all Audiences)

Presenting the excitement of The Met: Live in HD on the Big Screen: The LIVE transmission of Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust will be shown for one day only on Saturday, November 22nd at 10 AM.   Robert Lepage, one of theater’s most imaginative directors, applies his artistry to Berlioz’s contemplation of good and evil.  Using ethereal projections, Lepage has created a vision for La Damnation de Faust that seamlessly marries art and technology. Marcello Giordani stars in the title role opposite Susan Graham as Marguerite and John Relyea as Méphistophélès. James Levine conducts this rarely staged masterwork.

Thaïs

       · Title:  The Metropolitan Opera: Thaïs
       · Date:  Saturday, December 20th, 2008
       · Run Time:  201 minutes
       · Start Time:  9:00AM
       · Rating:  NR (Suitable for all Audiences)

Presenting the excitement of The Met: Live in HD on the Big Screen: The LIVE transmission of Massenet’s  Thaïs  will be shown for one day only on Saturday, December 20th  at 9 AM. The radiant Renée Fleming plays the Egyptian courtesan in search of spiritual sustenance and Thomas Hampson is the monk Athanaël who falls from grace. Massenet’s sensual score is presented in a new production by John Cox with Jesús López-Cobos conducting.

La Rondine

       · Title:  The Metropolitan Opera: La Rondine
       · Date:  Saturday, January 10th, 2009
       · Run Time:  135 minutes
       · Start Time:  10:00AM
       · Rating:  NR (Suitable for all Audiences)

Presenting the excitement of The Met: Live in HD on the Big Screen: The LIVE transmission of Puccini’s La Rondine will be shown for one day only on Saturday, January 10th at 10 AM.   Opera’s charismatic real-life duo, Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna provide the star power to deliver this ravishing romance from the world’s most popular opera composer.  Gheorghiu plays the kept woman who gambles on true love, and Alagna is the man who makes her question the cost of her glittering existence.  Nicolas Joël directs the new production of this gorgeously melodic look at love. Marco Armiliato conducts.

Orfeo ed Euridice

       · Title:  The Metropolitan Opera: Orfeo ed Euridice
       · Date:  Saturday, January 24th, 2009
       · Run Time:  91 minutes
       · Start Time: 10:00AM
       · Rating:  NR (Suitable for all Audiences)

Presenting the excitement of The Met: Live in HD on the Big Screen: The LIVE transmission of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice will be shown for one day only on Saturday, January 24th at 10 AM.   This complete vision for Gluck, with production and choreography by Mark Morris and costumes by Isaac Mizrahi, features the artistry of Stephanie Blythe in the title role.  The alluring Danielle de Niese is Orfeo’s adored wife, Euridice, who inspires the hero to face the underworld for her sake.  Music Director James Levine conducts.

Lucia di Lammermoor

       · Title:  The Metropolitan Opera: Lucia di Lammermoor
       · Date:  Saturday, February 7th, 2009
       · Run Time:  200 minutes
       · Start Time: 10:00AM
       · Rating:  NR (Suitable for all Audiences)

Presenting the excitement of The Met: Live in HD on the Big Screen: The LIVE transmission of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor will be shown for one day only on Saturday, February 7th at 10 AM.   Anna Netrebko stars in the title role of Donizetti’s fragile heroine.  Tenor Rolando Villazón stars as Lucia’s lover, Edgardo.  Baritone Mariusz Kwiecien is her tyrannical brother. Mary Zimmerman’s hit production is staged as a Victorian ghost story. Marco Armiliato conducts.

Madama Butterfly

       · Title:  The Metropolitan Opera: Madama Butterfly
       · Date:  Saturday, March 7th, 2009
       · Run Time:  201 minutes
       · Start Time: 10:00AM PT
       · Rating:  NR (Suitable for all Audiences)
       · Public Ticket Sales Goal:  Friday, August 8th, 2008

Presenting the excitement of The Met: Live in HD on the Big Screen: The LIVE transmission of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly will be shown for one day only on Saturday, March 7th at 10 AM.   Cristina Gallardo-Domâs, the original Butterfly of the production when it opened the 2006-07 Met season, returns to the title role of the late Anthony Minghella’s stunning production, a classic of the new Met repertory.  Marcello Giordani stars as Pinkerton. Patrick Summers conducts.

La Sonnambula

       · Title:  The Metropolitan Opera: La Sonnambula
       · Date:  Saturday, March 21st, 2009
       · Run Time:  160 minutes
       · Start Time:  10:00AM
       · Rating:  NR (Suitable for all Audiences)

Presenting the excitement of The Met: Live in HD on the Big Screen: The LIVE transmission of Bellini’s La Sonnambula will be shown for one day only on Saturday, March 21st at 10 AM.   Mary Zimmerman underlines La Sonnambula’s dual elements of sleep and wakefulness in an intriguing staging set in the present.  Bellini’s hauntingly lyrical score soars as performed by Dessay and Juan Diego Flórez, back from their sensational run together in La Fille du Régiment in leading opera houses around the world.  Evelino Pidò conducts.

La Cenerentola

       · Title:  The Metropolitan Opera: La Cenerentola
       · Date:  Saturday, May 9th, 2009
       · Run Time:  180 minutes
       · Start Time:  9:30AM
       · Rating:  NR (Suitable for all Audiences)

Presenting the excitement of The Met: Live in HD on the Big Screen: The LIVE transmission of Rossini’s La Cenerentola will be shown for one day only on Saturday, May 9th at 9:30 AM.   Hot on the heels of her triumphant Met debut as Rosina in last season’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Elīna Garanča portrays another Rossini charmer in this bel canto Cinderella story.  Lawrence Brownlee is her Prince Charming, Don Ramiro.  Veteran baritone Alessangro Corbelli demonstrates his impeccable comic timing to match the gravitas of Met favorite John Relyea. Maurizio Benini conducts.