Operas from the Met on PBS: Season 16 Schedule
Whether we are unable to attend a live performance at the Metropolitan Opera or prefer to watch this season’s exciting array of new productions from the comfort of our own homes, PBS is bringing the Met into our living rooms for yet another season. Here is the schedule for Season 16 of Great Performances at the Met:
Sunday, February 6 on PBS (check local listings)
Modest Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov
Mussorgsky’s only completed opera is based on a play by Alexander Pushkin (available in English translation on Project Gutenberg), and depicts key moments in the turbulent life of the Russian Tsar, Boris Godunov, who reigned from 1598 to 1605. Grandeur, guilt, political maneuverings, and a Coronation scene unequaled in all operatic repertoire. Acclaimed bass René Pape plays the title role and Maestro Sebastian Weigle conducts the opera’s original 1869 version in a production by Stephen Wadsworth. Hosted by Angel Blue.
Sunday, March 6on PBS (check local listings)
Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice
The newest operatic version of the Orpheus myth, based on Sarah Ruhl’s 2003 play, sets the story from Eurydice’s point of view. The production is by Mary Zimmerman, conducted by Met Opera Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Soprano Erin Morley sings the title role, and baritone Joshua Hopkins plays Orpheus with countertenor Jakub Józef Orlinski as his alter-ego. Tenor Barry Banks is Hades and bass-baritone Nathan Berg Eurydice’s father, already a resident of the underworld. Hosted by Renée Fleming.
Friday, April 1 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings)
Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones
“Met Opera Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Grammy–winning jazz musician and composer Terence Blanchard’s adaptation of Charles M. Blow’s moving memoir, marking the Met’s first performance of an opera by a Black composer. Featuring a libretto by filmmaker Kasi Lemmons, the opera tells the story of a young man’s journey to overcome a life of trauma and hardship. James Robinson and Camille A. Brown co-direct this new staging with Brown also choreographing, becoming the first Black director to create a mainstage Met production. Baritone Will Liverman stars as Charles alongside soprano Angel Blue as Destiny/Loneliness/Greta with soprano Latonia Moore as Billie and Walter Russell III as Char’es-Baby. Hosted by Audra McDonald.” (description quoted from the PBS website).
Sunday, May 8 on PBS (check local listings)
Jules Massenet’s Cendrillon (Cinderella)
Rossini’s Italian operatic version of Charles Perrault’s 1697 beloved fairy tale Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper may be the more famous adaptation, but Massenet’s opera is a charming variation in its own right. It is also sung in French, the original language of the story. It took 119 years for this work to arrive the Met in this production by Laurent Pelly. In an all-new English translation, mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard takes on the title role with a cast which includes mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo as Prince Charming, soprano Jessica Pratt as the Fairy Godmother, and mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe and bass-baritone Laurent Naouri as her guardians. Conducted by Maestro Emmanuel Villaume. Hosted by Anthony Roth Costanzo.
Friday, June 17 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings)
Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto
The play Le roi s’amuse (The King Amuses Himself—included in this collection on Amazon) by French novelist, poet, and dramatist Victor Hugo was banned in France after the first performance in 1832 for what the censors believed to be insulting references to the king. Verdi, in turn, encountered censorship from the Austrian authorities in Venice when he and his librettist adapted Hugo’s play into the opera—and the plot’s location had to be changed from France to Mantua. The opera became so popular instantly that the Duke’s famous aria “La donna è mobile” (“Woman is fickle”) was being sung on the streets the day after the premiere. This production by Tony-winning director Bartlett Sher sets the story in 1920s Europe. Baritone Quinn Kelsey sings the title role at the Met for the first time. The stellar cast includes tenor Piotr Beczala as the Duke of Mantua, soprano Rosa Feola as Gilda, Varduhi Abrahamyan as Maddalena, and Andrea Mastroni as Sparafucile, with Maestro Daniele Rustioni on the podium. Hosted by Isabel Leonard.
Sunday, July 3 on PBS (check local listings)
Richard Strauss’ Ariadne Auf Naxos
One of Strauss’ brilliant collaborations with writer Hugo von Hofmannsthal, this opera combines elements of commedia dell’arte (literally, “comedy of the profession”—an early form of professional theatre that originated in Italy and was characterized by masks, improvisation, and pantomime) with those of serious opera. It underlines the competition for audience attention between what was called “high” and “low” art. At the musical soirée of a rich Viennese, two troupes of musicians and singers—one operatic, the other burlesque—must perform at the same time, since dinner is running late. In one unforgettable evening of entertainment the Greek mythological tragic tale of Ariadne’s abandonment by Theseus and the slapstick world of the commedia dell’arte mingle with some hilarious results. Lise Davidsen sings the title heroine, one of her specialty roles, for the first time at the Met. Alongside her are mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard as the composer, soprano Brenda Rae as Zerbinetta, tenor Brandon Jovanovich as Ariadne’s lover, the god Bacchus, and Thomas Allen as the Major-Domo. Maestro Marek Janowski conducts. Hosted by Matthew Polenzani.
Sunday, August 7 on PBS (check local listings)
Giuseppe Verdi’s Don Carlos
For the first time in its history, the Met presents the original five-act French version of one of Verdi’s supreme masterpieces. Verdi’s greatest political opera highlights the complex conflicts between politics, religion, friendship, and love like no other operatic work. Rooted in sixteenth-century Spanish history and inspired by Friedrich Schiller’s play, Don Carlos, Infant of Spain (read in English translation), the story turns on the life-and-death psychological power struggle between King Philip II and his son Don Carlos for the love of Elisabeth de Valois, and the freedom of Flanders, all unfolding under the oppressive watchfulness of the Spanish Inquisition. This new staging by David McVicar is conducted by Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin and features a stellar cast: tenor Matthew Polenzani in the title role, soprano Sonya Yoncheva as Élisabeth de Valois, mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca as Eboli, bass-baritones Eric Owens and John Relyea as Philippe II and the Grand Inquisitor, and baritone Etienne Dupuis as Rodrigue. Hosted by Ailyn Pérez.
Sunday, September 4 on PBS (check local listings)
Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot
The opera that gives new meaning to losing one’s head for love. The beautiful Chinese princess Turandot asks three riddle questions of her princely suitors, and when they cannot answer all of them, she orders their heads chopped off. Will the mysterious Prince (Calàf) solve the three riddles and marry her? The story is based on the play Turandot by Count Carlo Gozzi. Its origin stems from one of the seven stories in the epic Haft Paykar by 12th-century Persian poet Nizami. Puccini set the story in China and used traditional Chinese music for several themes, most notably Turandot’s theme. The opera is best known for its rousing, triumphant tenor aria, “Nessun dorma” (None shall sleep). Superstar Anna Netrebko sings the title role, tenor Yonghoon Lee plays Calàf, the bold prince, soprano Ermonela Jaho is Liù and bass Ferruccio Furlanetto portrays the blind king Timur, with Maestro Marco Armiliato on the podium. Hosted by Nadine Sierra.
Sunday, October 2 on PBS (check local listings)
Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia Di Lammermoor
Based on Sir Walter Scott’s historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor this is a Gothic story replete with a ghost, murder, thwarted love, and Lucia’s famous mad scene: a showcase piece of virtuosity for the soprano voice that expresses a character’s loss of sanity. Soprano Nadine Sierra takes on the title role in this new production by Australian film and theatre director Simon Stone. Tenor Javier Camarena sings Lucia’s love interest Edgardo, baritone Artur Rucinski plays her manipulating brother Enrico and bass Matthew Rose is her tutor, Raimondo. Conducted by Maestro Riccardo Frizza. Hosted by Deborah Voigt.
Sunday, November 6 on PBS (check local listings)
Brett Dean’s Hamlet
“This contemporary opera [based on William Shakespeare’s Hamlet] is composed by Brett Dean and directed by Neil Armfield. It premiered at the Glyndebourne Festival to critical acclaim with many of the original cast members returning to reprise their roles, including tenor Allan Clayton in the title role, soprano Brenda Rae as Ophelia, mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly as Gertrude, baritone Rod Gilfry as Claudius and bass John Tomlinson as the ghost of Hamlet’s father. Nicholas Carter makes his Met debut as conductor. Hosted by Christine Goerke.” (description quoted from the PBS website)
The above information is adapted and, in part, quoted from the PBS Great Performances at the Met Season 16 website.
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