The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: The 13th season of “Live from The Met in HD” opens this Saturday with Verdi’s opera “Aida” starring Anna Netrekbko

October 5, 2018
1 Comment

By Jacob Stockinger

PLEASE FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR SHARE IT (not just “Like It”) IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event.

This Saturday, Oct. 6, the new 10-opera season of the series “Live From the Met in HD” starts with Giuseppe Verdi’s popular late masterpiece and epic opera “Aida.” 

The hi-definition broadcast of a live performance from the Metropolitan Opera (below) in New York City – which is a revival production with the superstar Russian soprano Anna Netrebko — starts at 11:55 a.m. and runs until 4:13 p.m. The encore showings are on next Wednesday, Oct. 10, at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

The opera will be sung in Italian with supertitles in English, German, Spanish and Italian.

Tickets are for Saturday broadcasts are $24 for adults and $22 for seniors. For encore showings, all tickets are $18.

The cinemas where the opera can be seen are two Marcus Cinemas: the Point Cinema on the west side of Madison and the Palace Cinema in Sun Prairie.

Here is a link to the Marcus website for address and more information:

http://www.marcustheatres.com/movies/met-aida-live

Get out your datebooks!

Here is a link to the Metropolitan Opera’s web site where you can find the titles, dates, casts, production information and video clips of all 10 productions in the 2018-19 season, which include operas by Bizet, Wagner, Donizetti, Saint-Saens, Puccini, Cilea and Poulenc plus a new work, “Marnie,” by Nico Muhly. (You can also see and hear the season trailer in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

https://www.metopera.org/season/in-cinemas/

Here is a link to a very positive review of “Aida” — Anna Netrebko as Aida is on the left in the photo by Sara Krulwich for The New York Times — by senior music critic Anthony Tommasini that appeared in The New York Times:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/27/arts/music/anna-netrebko-aida-met-opera-review.html

Here is a link to a synopsis and cast list, which can be printed out:

https://www.metopera.org/globalassets/season/in-cinemas/hd-cast-sheets/aida_1819_hdsynopsis_global_nodates.pdf?performanceNumber=15145

Here is a link to other information about the production of “Aida,” including photos and audiovisual clips:

https://www.metopera.org/season/2018-19-season/aida/

And here is a Wikipedia history of the successful broadcast series that gives you more information about how many cinemas it uses, the size of the worldwide audience – now including Russia, China and Israel — and how much money it makes for The Met.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Opera_Live_in_HD


Posted in Classical music
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Classical music: Bellini’s opera “Norma” opens the new season of “Live From the Met in HD” at movie theaters this Saturday and Wednesday

October 6, 2017
Leave a Comment

By Jacob Stockinger

At a time when so many classical music programs are striving desperately for commercial success and popularity with the public, one program stands out as phenomenally successful: The Metropolitan Opera’s “Live From the Met in HD” broadcasts.

Those broadcasts reach hundreds of cinemas around the world in North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Here is a list of the international showings:

http://www.metopera.org/season/in-cinemas/international-locations/

The new season of the live broadcasts by the Metropolitan Opera (below) opens this Saturday.

The broadcasts in Madison will take place at two Marcus Corporation cinemas: at the Point Cinemas on the far west side and the Palace Cinemas in Sun Prairie on the far east side.

The first of 10 operas in the season is a new production of Vincenzo Bellini’s Druid-based bel canto opera “Norma.”

The outstanding cast of singers and actors includes Sondra Radvanovsky, Joseph Callejo and Joyce DiDonato. Carlo Rizzi is the conductor. (You can hear a preview of this production in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

The running time is 3 hours 30 minutes.

Tickets are $18.

Here is a season trailer:

http://www.metopera.org/Season/In-Cinemas/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwjdLOBRCkARIsAFj5-GBXxKzE43SMmgIUAPUrx1p2YrxzvDPG4cMZZk_7JwaoFQOMy22lf_0aAl8xEALw_wcB

The live performance is this Saturday, Oct. 7, at 11:55 a.m.:

http://www.marcustheatres.com/movies/met-norma-live

Encore presentations and rebroadcast are on Wednesday, Oct. 11, at 1 pm. and 6:30 p.m.:

http://www.marcustheatres.com/movies/met-norma-encore

For this production of “Norma,” here are:

A link to a synopsis and cast list:

http://www.metopera.org/Season/In-Cinemas/SynopsisCast/norma/?performanceNumber=14827

Links to production notes and program notes:

http://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/norma-bellini-tickets/

http://www.metopera.org/metoperafiles/season/2017-18/operas/norma/programs/100717%20Norma.pdf

Much of the upcoming season features standard tried-and-true operas by Mozart (“The Magic Flute” and “Cosi fan tutti“); Puccini (“Tosca” and “La Bohème”); Verdi (“Luisa Miller”)’ Rossini (“Semiramide”) and Donizetti (“The Elixir of Love”). But there is also a contemporary work, “The Exterminating Angel,” by Thomas Adès and a holiday production of Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel.”

What do you think of the “Live From the Met” screenings?

What do you think most makes them so successful? The quality of the productions? The affordable price? The accessibility?

And what do you think of the choice of operas in the new season?

The Ear wants to hear.


    Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 1,245 other subscribers

    Blog Stats

    • 2,427,283 hits
    June 2023
    M T W T F S S
     1234
    567891011
    12131415161718
    19202122232425
    2627282930  
%d bloggers like this: