We’re all stuck at home and looking for things to do. Opera lovers rejoice! The Metropolitan Opera is offering up nightly Met Opera performances for free from their vast library of performances. Performances begin each night at 7:30 PM and will be available for streaming for the next 20 hours. The link is www.metopera.org.
Here are the titles available this week:
Monday, March 16 – Bizet’s Carmen
Conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, starring ElÄ«na GaranÄa and Roberto Alagna. Transmitted live on January 16, 2010.
Tuesday, March 17 – Puccini’s La Bohème
Conducted by Nicola Luisotti, starring Angela Gheorghiu and Ramón Vargas. Transmitted live on April 5, 2008.
Wednesday, March 18 – Verdi’s Il Trovatore
Conducted by Marco Armiliato, starring Anna Netrebko, Dolora Zajick, Yonghoon Lee, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. Transmitted live on October 3, 2015.
Thursday, March 19 – Verdi’s La Traviata
Conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, starring Diana Damrau, Juan Diego Flórez, and Quinn Kelsey. Transmitted live on December 15, 2018.
Friday, March 20 – Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment
Conducted by Marco Armiliato, starring Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Flórez. Transmitted live on April 26, 2008.
Saturday, March 21 – Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor
Conducted by Marco Armiliato, starring Anna Netrebko, Piotr Beczała, and Mariusz Kwiecien. Transmitted live on February 7, 2009.
Sunday, March 22 – Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin
Conducted by Valery Gergiev, starring Renée Fleming, Ramón Vargas, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. Transmitted live on February 24, 2007.
While all these operas are very good, this first week includes operas that are beloved and contain some of the most famous music in opera. Whether you are looking to explore opera for the first time or you are a die-hard fan, this first week offers up some terrific choices.
Photo of the Metropolitan Opera Auditorium by Jonathan Tichler (Courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera)