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Metropolitan Opera in New York presents MET STARS LIVE IN CONCERT (August 2020)

MET STARS LIVE IN CONCERT

The Met Launches Unique Pay-Per-View Series Featuring Some of Opera’s Biggest Stars Singing Mainstream Operatic Repertoire in Striking Locations Across Europe and the U.S.

Weekend series of 12 live concerts opens Saturday, July 18, with Jonas Kaufmann performing from a historic abbey in Polling, Bavaria

Summer and fall concerts also include Roberto Alagna, Piotr Beczała, Angel Blue, Joseph Calleja, Javier Camarena, Diana Damrau, Lise Davidsen, Joyce DiDonato, Renée Fleming, Aleksandra Kurzak, Anna Netrebko, Sondra Radvanovsky, Bryn Terfel, Pretty Yende, and Sonya Yoncheva

Locations include a terrace in Èze, France, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, a castle in Oslo, palaces in Vienna and Malta, a historic mansion in Washington, D.C., and churches in Barcelona and Wales

New York, NY (July 11, 2020)—The Metropolitan Opera announced its entry into live pay-per-view concert events today, unveiling a lineup of 12 concerts from summer to fall featuring some of opera’s biggest stars in striking locations across Europe and the United States. In a Zoom press conference with most of the participating artists, Peter Gelb, the Met’s General Manager, explained the parameters of the series of live events, which will be shot with multiple cameras linked by satellite to a control room in New York City, where the host of the programs, soprano Christine Goerke, will be situated. Gary Halvorson, the Met’s award-winning director of the company’s Live in HD cinema transmissions, will direct each of the programs.

“This new initiative is intended to create live performance opportunities for our artists and our audiences at a time when they both sorely need it,” said Gelb. “Although some concert activity is beginning to take place once again in some parts of the world, this is a chance for opera fans to experience their favorite stars in real time, since it’s going to be a long time before artists and their audiences are fully mobile again.” Gelb also noted that the performances are being set in picturesque locations, without audiences present in the venue. “We think it will be more satisfying for the performers, as well as the thousands who will be watching at home, not to experience these performances through the eyes of a socially distanced audience.”

The cameras will be free to fully explore the interiors of the venues, capturing the artists’ performances as well as the architectural details of their unusual locations. Entrances and exits will be dispensed with, and in order to give the singers breaks from their strenuous groups of arias, the camera will cut back to New York and to Ms. Goerke, who will introduce brief documentary segments that will fill these pauses.

The first concert stars tenor Jonas Kaufmann, who will sing a program of classic arias live from the ornate Polling Abbey located in the Bavarian countryside outside Munich, Germany. The grand Baroque interior of the historic venue, built in the 1770s with soaring vaulted ceilings and breathtaking frescoes, will serve as a setting for a performance featuring some of the repertory’s most spectacular showcases for the tenor voice. Selections will include “Nessun dorma” from Turandot, “E lucevan le stelle” from Tosca, “Ah! lève-toi, soleil” from Roméo et Juliette, “La fleur que tu m’avais jetée” from Carmen, “È la solita storia” from L’Arlesiana, and “Un dì all’azzurro spazio” from Andrea Chenier, among others. Helmut Deutsch will accompany on piano.

Tickets for each recital are $20 and can be purchased on the Met’s website at metopera.org, and the performances will be available for on-demand viewing for 12 days following the live event. The programs can be viewed on your computer, mobile device, or home entertainment system (via Smart TV, Chromecast, or AirPlay).

You can find the complete concert program here:

18 July Jonas Kaufmann
19.00 Kloster Polling, Bavaria, Germany
Works by Puccini, Bizet, Gounod, Meyerbeer, Massenet, Ponchielli, Cilea, Refice, Giordano, among others

https://metstarslive.brightcove-services.com/events/6170925686001

1 August Renée Fleming

19.00 Dumbarton Oaks Museum in Washington, D.C.
Works by Handel, Canteloube, Massenet, Strauss, Cilea, Puccini, Arlen

https://metstarslive.brightcove-services.com/events/6168649618001

16 August Roberto Alagna and Aleksandra Kurzak
19.00 in the open air at the Château de la Chèvre d’Or in Èze, France
Works by Puccini, Gounod, Rossini, Donizetti, Mascagnis, Verdi, Lehar, Mendoza y Cortés, Denza

https://metstarslive.brightcove-services.com/events/6168650295001

29 August Lise Davidsen
19.00 Oscarshall Palace in Oslo, Norway
Works by Wagner, Sibelius, Strauss, Puccini, Verdi, Grieg, Kálmán, Britten, Ronald, Charles, Lerner and Loewe

https://metstarslive.brightcove-services.com/events/6168654184001

12 September Joyce DiDonato
19.00 hrs Century Hall, Bochum
Works tba*

https://metstarslive.brightcove-services.com/events/6168652569001

26 September Sondra Radvanovsky and Piotr Beczala
19.00 Barcelona, Spain (Place tba)
Works tba*

https://metstarslive.brightcove-services.com/events/6168651046001

10 October Anna Netrebko
19.00Palais Liechtenstein in Vienna, Austria
Works tba*

https://metstarslive.brightcove-services.com/events/6168654223001

October 24 Diana Damrau and Joseph Celleja
19.00 h Malta (Place tba)
Works tba*

https://metstarslive.brightcove-services.com/events/6168652598001

14 November Pretty Yende and Javier Camarena
19.00 Berlin, Germany (Place tba)
Works tba*

https://metstarslive.brightcove-services.com/events/6168654438001

28 November Sonya Yoncheva
19.00 Zurich, Switzerland (Place tba)
Works tba*