The Metropolitan Opera Live in HD premiers this fall at UNCW. In its fourth season, the Peabody Award-winning program features live high definition transmissions to big screens throughout the United States and Canada.
This program is brought to you by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at UNCW, Department of Music's UNCWOOP! (UNCW Opera Outreach Program!) and WHQR 91.3 fm Public Radio.
To order seats, click on the teal text or call 910.962.3195.
Les Contes d’Hoffmann – Jacques Offenbach
Saturday, Dec. 19 @ 1 p.m.
Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher (South Pacific) directs this new production, returning after the triumph of his Met Barber of Seville (seen live in HD in the 2006–07 season). Offenbach’s fictionalized take on the life and loves of the German Romantic writer E.T.A. Hoffmann is a fascinating psychological journey. Met Music Director James Levine conducts a stellar star cast including Anna Netrebko as the tragic Antonia, Kate Lindsey as the ambiguous Nicklausse, and Alan Held as the demonic four villains.
Conductor: James Levine; Production: Bartlett Sher; Kathleen Kim, Anna Netrebko, Ekaterina Gubanova, Elina Garana, Joseph Calleja, Alan Held
Approximate running time 3 hours / 2 intermissions
Der Rosenkavalier – Richard Strauss
Saturday, Jan. 9 @ 1 p.m.
Strauss’s comic masterpiece of love and intrigue in 18th-century Vienna stars Renée Fleming as the aristocratic Marschallin and Susan Graham in the trouser role of her young lover. Music Director James Levine conducts a cast that also includes Kristinn Sigmundsson and Thomas Allen.
Conductor: James Levine; Production: Nathaniel Merrill; Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Christine Schäfer, Eric Cutler, Thomas Allen, Kristinn Sigmundsson
Approximate running time 3 hours / 2 intermissions
Carmen – Georges Bizet
Saturday, Jan. 16 @ 1 p.m.
One of the most popular operas of all time, Carmen “is about sex, violence, and racism—and its corollary: freedom,” says Olivier Award-winning director Richard Eyre about his new production of Bizet’s drama. “It is one of the inalienably great works of art. It’s sexy, in every sense. And I think it should be shocking.” Elina Garanca plays the seductive gypsy of the title in her role debut, opposite Roberto Alagna as the obsessed Don José.
Conductor: Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Production: Richard Eyre; Barbara Frittoli, Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Alagna, Mariusz Kwiecien
Approximate running time 4 hours / 2 intermissions
Simon Boccanegra – Giuseppe Verdi
Saturday, Feb. 6 @ 1 p.m.
Four decades into a legendary Met career, tenor Plácido Domingo makes history singing the title role in Verdi’s gripping political thriller, which is written for a baritone. Adrianne Pieczonka, Marcello Giordani, and James Morris are his co-stars in this moving and tragic story of a father and his lost daughter. James Levine conducts.
Conductor: James Levine; Production: Giancarlo del Monaco; Adrianne Pieczonka, Marcello Giordani, Plácido Domingo, James Morris
Approximate running time 3 hours 40 minutes / 2 intermissions
Hamlet – Ambroise Thomas
Tuesday, March 30 @ 7 p.m. | ENCORE PRESENTATION +
The works of Shakespeare have inspired more operatic adaptations than any other writer’s. Simon Keenlyside and Natalie Dessay bring their extraordinary acting and singing skills to two of the Bard’s most unforgettable characters in this new production of Ambroise Thomas’s Hamlet. For the role of Ophelia, the French composer created an extended mad scene that is among the greatest in opera.
Conductor: Louis Langrée; Production: Patrice Caurier/Moshe Leiser; Natalie Dessay, Jennifer Larmore, Toby Spence, Simon Keenlyside, James Morris
Approximate running time 3 hours 45 minutes / 1 intermission
Armida – Gioachino Rossini
Saturday, May 1 @ 1 p.m.
This mythical story of a sorceress who enthralls men in her island prison has inspired operatic settings by a multitude of composers, including Gluck, Haydn, and Dvor
Conductor: Riccardo Frizza; Production: Mary Zimmerman; Renée Fleming, Lawrence Brownlee, Bruce Ford, José Manuel Zapata, Barry Banks, Kobie van Rensburg
Approximate running time 4 hours 20 minutes / 2 intermissions
All performances are live in high definition unless noted as an ENCORE PRESENTATION which means the performance is a rebroadcast of the original.
