The Metropolitan Opera’s 2017 Summer HD Festival

Will Once Again Offer Ten Free Screenings of Met Performances on

Lincoln Center Plaza From August 26 Through Labor Day

 

Pre-Festival Showing of Ingmar Bergman’s Classic Film, The Magic Flute,

on August 25

 

The festival opens with the Met’s popular Las Vegas production

of Verdi’s Rigoletto and ends on Labor Day with the composer’s beloved

La Traviata starring Sonya Yoncheva

 

3,000 free seats for each screening are available with no tickets required 

 

New York, NY (July 20, 2017) — The Metropolitan Opera’s annual Summer HD Festival, which presents free outdoor screenings of operas on Lincoln Center Plaza, will return for the ninth time this summer, with one screening each night from Saturday, August 26, to Monday September 4 (Labor Day). The series will present nine recent performances from the company’s acclaimed Live in HD series of movie theater transmissions, with its production of Tristan und Isolde being shown over two evenings due to its length. As a prelude to the festival, the Film Society of Lincoln Center, in association with the Met, will present Ingmar Bergman’s classic film, The Magic Flute, on Friday, August 25.

The festival opens with Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer’s Rigoletto, with its neon-bedecked Las Vegas set, and starring Diana Damrau, Piotr Beczala and Željko Lučić. Over the course of the ten night festival, many of the Met’s biggest stars will be featured, including Anna Netrebko in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Plácido Domingo in Verdi’s Nabucco, Nina Stemme in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, Joyce DiDonato and Juan Diego Flórez in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and Sonya Yoncheva in Verdi’s La Traviata, which will be screened on Labor Day, the final evening of the festival.

Each evening of the festival, 3,000 seats will be available on the plaza on a first-come, first-served basis, as well as additional space for overflow crowds. No tickets are required, and there are no rain dates.

The Summer HD Festival is generously supported by The Robert W. Wilson Charitable Trust. Additional funding is provided by The Howard Gilman Foundation.

The Met: Live in HD series is made possible by a generous grant from its founding sponsor, The Neubauer Family Foundation.  Digital support of The Met: Live in HD is provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

 

The Met’s 2017 Summer HD Festival Schedule

 

 

Friday, August 25, 8:00 PM: THE MAGIC FLUTE (pre-festival event)

One of the most celebrated operatic adaptations for the screen, Ingmar Bergman’s 1975 film version of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte received an Academy Award nomination for Best Costume Design and won a BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Program. A co-presentation of the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Metropolitan Opera.

Approximate running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes

 

Saturday, August 26, 8:00 PM: RIGOLETTO

Michael Mayer’s acclaimed production, which updates the action to Las Vegas in 1960 stars Željko Lučić as Rigoletto, Diana Damrau as Gilda, and Piotr Beczala as the Duke. Michele Marrioti conducts Verdi’s popular score. (Original transmission: February 16, 2013).

Approximate running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes

 

Sunday, August 27, 7:45 PM: IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA

Peter Mattei stars as Rossini’s Figaro, in Bartlett Sher’s uproarious production. Joyce DiDonato and Juan Diego Flórez complete the star-studded bel canto cast. Maurizio Benini conducts. (Original transmission: March 24, 2007).

Approximate running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes

 

Monday, August 28, 8:00 PM: L’AMOUR DE LOIN

Susanna Phillips, Tamara Mumford, and Eric Owens star in the Met premiere production of Kaija Saariaho’s 21st-century masterpiece, brought to life in a spellbinding staging by Robert Lepage. Susanna Mälkki conducts. (Original transmission: December 10, 2016).

Approximate running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes

 

Tuesday, August 29, 8:00 PM: MANON LESCAUT

Kristine Opolais stars as the mercurial title character opposite Roberto Alagna as des Grieux. The production is by Sir Richard Eyre and Puccini’s stirring score is conducted by Fabio Luisi.  (Original transmission: March 5, 2016).

Approximate running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes

 

Wednesday, August 30, 8:00 PM: ROBERTO DEVEREUX

Sondra Radvanovsky delivers a tour-de-force performance as Queen Elizabeth, the third of Donizetti’s perilous “Three Queens,” alongside Elīna Garanča, Matthew Polenzani and Mariusz Kwiecien. Sir David McVicar’s production is conducted by Maurizio Benini.  (Original transmission: April 16, 2016).

Approximate running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes

 

Thursday, August 31, 8:00 PM: TRISTAN UND ISOLDE – ACT I

Sir Simon Rattle conducts Wagner’s meditation on transcendent love, with an acclaimed cast led by Nına Stemme and Stuart Skelton in the title roles. Mariusz Treliński’s production also features Ekaterina Gubanova as Brangäne, Evgeny Nikitin as Kurwenal, and René Pape as King Marke. (Original transmission: October 8, 2016)

Approximate running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes

 

Friday, September 1, 8:00 PM: TRISTAN UND ISOLDE – ACTS 2-3

Approximate running time: 2 hours, 35 minutes

 

Saturday, September 2, 8:00 PM: EUGENE ONEGIN

Anna Netrebko and Peter Mattei deliver gripping performances in Tchaikovsky’s moving opera about unrequited love. Robin Ticciati conducts Deborah Warner’s staging. (Original transmission: April 22, 2017).

Approximate running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes

 

Sunday, September 3, 8:00 PM: NABUCCO

As the title king of Babylon, Plácido Domingo adds another role to his historic Met career, joining forces once again with Music Director Emeritus James Levine. Liudmyla Monastyrska is Abigaille, Jamie Barton is Fenena, Russell Thomas is Ismaele, and Dmitry Belosselskiy is Zaccaria. (Original transmission: January 7, 2017).

Approximate running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes

 

Monday, September 4, 8:00 PM: LA TRAVIATA

Verdi’s timeless tragedy stars Sonya Yoncheva as the conflicted courtesan who hopes that pure love can save her from self-destruction. Michael Fabiano sings Alfredo and Thomas Hampson is Giorgio Germont. Willy Decker’s staging is conducted by Nicola Luisotti. (Original transmission: March 11, 2017).

Approximate running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes

 

The Met: Live in HD is produced in association with WNET and PBS.