10 Seasons of The Met: Live in HD

2015–16 Season
“Quando narravi”
from Verdi’s Otello
Sonya Yoncheva (Desdemona), Aleksandrs Antonenko (Otello)
HD transmission:
October 17, 2015

Giuseppe Verdi’s lifelong fascination with Shakespeare found expression in three of his greatest operas: the early Macbeth and his final two masterpieces, Otello and Falstaff. The tragedy of the jealous “Moor of Venice” ranks among the few works of music theater to match, and sometimes exceed, their source material in dramatic intensity. Otello and Desdemona’s love duet concludes the first act.

2015–16 Season
“O du, mein holder Abendstern”
from Wagner’s Tannhäuser
Peter Mattei (Wolfram)
HD transmission:
October 31, 2015

Richard Wagner changed the history of opera with the creation of a new kind of music drama. Tannhäuser, written while he was in his early 30s, marks a major step on his way from the Romantic tradition of earlier decades to his later masterworks. For sheer melodic beauty, Wolfram’s Song to the Evening Star rivals the most celebrated bel canto arias.

2014–15 Season
“Vieni, t’affretta”
from Verdi’s Macbeth
Anna Netrebko (Lady Macbeth)
HD transmission:
October 11, 2014

Fierce, cold, and passionate, Lady Macbeth is a character for the ages—in Shakespeare’s play as in Verdi’s operatic adaptation. Her ambition provides the spark that sets the drama in motion. It’s on full display in her entrance scene in the opera’s first act.

2013–14 Season
“Pourquoi me réveiller”
from Massenet’s Werther
Jonas Kaufmann (Werther)
HD transmission:
March 15, 2014

Some of the most successful operatic adaptations of the works of Goethe were created by French composers, including Gounod’s Faust, Thomas’s Mignon—and Massenet’s take on the story of a young poet driven to suicide by unrequited love. The title hero’s aria, heard at the dramatic turning point late in the opera, is among the score’s best-known moments.

2012–13 Season
“Questa o quella”
from Verdi’s Rigoletto
Piotr Beczala (Duke)
HD transmission:
February 16, 2013

Set in 1960 Las Vegas, the Met’s production of Verdi’s opera places the tragic tale of betrayed innocence in an immoral world with thrilling visuals—beginning with the opening scene, which transforms the Duke’s palace into a neon-lit casino.

2011–12 Season
“Coppia iniqua”
from Donizetti’s Anna Bolena
Anna Netrebko (Anna Bolena)
HD transmission:
October 15, 2011

All three of Donizetti’s Tudor queen operas—which also include Maria Stuarda and Roberto Devereux—will be seen at the Met in the 2015–16 season. The first to have its premiere with the company, in 2011, was Anna Bolena. The opera recounts the story of the final months in the life of Anne Boleyn, second wife of King Henry VIII, up to the moments just before her execution.

2010–11 Season
“Loge, hör!” (Wotan’s Farewell)
from Wagner’s Die Walküre
Bryn Terfel (Wotan)
HD transmission:
May 14, 2011

The second part of Wagner’s four-opera Ring cycle, Die Walküre concludes with one of the epic’s most emotional scenes: Wotan, lord of the gods, puts his warrior daughter Brünnhilde to sleep atop a mountain and calls on Loge, god of fire, to surround her with a ring of flames.

2009–10 Season
“Ainsi, le salut de mon âme” (Final Scene)
from Bizet’s Carmen
Elīna Garanča (Carmen), Roberto Alagna (Don José)
HD transmission:
January 16, 2010

Not many operatic characters can claim the universal, genre-defying appeal of Bizet’s immortal Gypsy—a woman who lives by her own rules. Carmen’s final dramatic confrontation between the heroine and her abandoned lover is one of opera’s iconic moments.

2008–09 Season
“Un bel dì vedremo”
from Puccini’s Madama Butterfly
Patricia Racette (Cio-Cio-San)
HD transmission:
March 7, 2009

Rarely has the clash of cultures been more poignantly portrayed in the theater than in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, the story of a Japanese geisha and her arranged marriage to an American naval officer. Butterfly’s aria, a musical highpoint of the score, is an expression of defiant hope in the face of impending tragedy.

2007–08 Season
“Chacun le sait, chacun le dit”
from Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment
Natalie Dessay (Marie)
HD transmission:
April 26, 2008

Donizetti’s light-hearted tale of the “Daughter of the Regiment”—a tomboy raised by soldiers who falls in love with one of the enemy—is known for its high-flying vocal fireworks. As seen in the Met’s production, it also provides countless opportunities for hilarious physical comedy.

2006–07 Season
Final Scene
from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin
Renée Fleming (Tatiana), Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Onegin)
HD transmission:
February 24, 2007

The history of opera is full of star-crossed lovers, but few works feature as heart-wrenching a final scene as Tchaikovsky’s adaptation of Pushkin’s celebrated verse novel. Having rejected Tatiana’s affection years earlier, Onegin realizes too late that he does love her—only to be rejected in return.

The 2014–15 Live in HD Season

Verdi's Macbeth
October 1, 2014

Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro*
October 18, 2014

Bizet's Carmen
November 1, 2014

Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia
November 14, 2014

Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
December 13, 2014

Lehár's The Merry Widow*
January 17, 2015

Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann
January 31, 2015

Tchaikovsky's Iolanta** / Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle*
February 14, 2015

Rossini's La Donna del Lago**
March 14, 2015

Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana / Leoncavallo's Pagliacci*
April 25, 2015

*New production
**Met premiere

The 2013–14 Live in HD Season

Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin*
October 5, 2013

Shostakovich's The Nose
October 26, 2013

Puccini's Tosca
November 9, 2013

Verdi's Falstaff*
December 14, 2013

Dvořák's Rusalka
February 8, 2014

Borodin's Prince Igor*
March 1, 2014

Massenet's Werther*
March 15, 2014

Puccini's La Bohème
April 5, 2014

Mozart's Così fan tutte
April 26, 2014

Rossini's La Cenerentola
May 20, 2014

*New production

The 2012–13 Live in HD Season

Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore*
October 13, 2012

Verdi's Otello
October 27, 2012

Adès's The Tempest**
November 10, 2012

Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito
December 1, 2012

Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera*
December 8, 2012

Berlioz's Les Troyens
January 5, 2013

Donizetti's Maria Stuarda**
January 19, 2013

Verdi's Rigoletto*
February 16, 2013

Wagner's Parsifal*
March 2, 2013

Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini
March 16, 2013

Handel's Giulio Cesare*
April 27, 2013

*New production
**Met premiere

The 2011–12 Live in HD Season

Donizetti's Anna Bolena**
October 15, 2011

Mozart's Don Giovanni*
October 29, 2011

Wagner's Siegfried*
November 5, 2011

Glass's Satyagraha
November 19, 2011

Handel's Rodelinda
December 3, 2011

Gounod's Faust
December 10, 2011

The Enchanted Island***
January 21, 2012

Wagner's Götterdämmerung*
February 11, 2012

Verdi's Ernani
February 25, 2012

Massenet's Manon*
April 7, 2012

Verdi's La Traviata
April 14, 2012

*New production
**Met premiere
***World premiere

The 2010–11 Live in HD Season

Wagner's Das Rheingold*
October 9, 2010

Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov*
October 23, 2010

Donizetti's Don Pasquale
November 13, 2010

Verdi's Don Carlo*
December 11, 2010

Puccini's La Fanciulla del West
January 8, 2011

Adams's Nixon in China**
February 12, 2011

Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride
February 26, 2011

Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor
March 19, 2011

Rossini's Le Comte Ory**
April 9, 2011

Strauss's Capriccio
April 23, 2011

Verdi's Il Trovatore
April 30, 2011

Wagner's Die Walküre*
May 14, 2011

*New production
**Met premiere

The 2009–10 Live in HD Season

Puccini's Tosca*
October 10, 2009

Verdi's Aida
October 24, 2009

Puccini's Turandot
November 7, 2009

Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann*
December 19, 2009

Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier
January 9, 2010

Bizet's Carmen*
January 16, 2010

Verdi's Simon Boccanegra
February 6, 2010

Thomas's Hamlet
March 27, 2010

Rossini's Armida**
March 1, 2010

*New production
**Met premiere

The 2008–09 Live in HD Season

Opening Night Gala:
Scenes from La Traviata, Manon, and Capriccio
September 22, 2008

Strauss's Salome
October 11, 2008

Adams's Doctor Atomic**
November 8, 2008

Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust*
November 22, 2008

Massenet's Thaïs*
December 20, 2008

Puccini's La Rondine*
January 10, 2009

Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice
January 24, 2009

Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor
February 7, 2009

Puccini's Madama Butterfly
March 7, 2009

Bellini's La Sonnambula*
March 21, 2009

Rossini's La Cenerentola
May 9, 2009

*New production
**Met premiere

The 2006–07 and 2007–08 Live in HD Seasons

Mozart's The Magic Flute
December 30, 2006

Bellini's I Puritani
January 6, 2007

Tan Dun's The First Emperor**
January 13, 2007

Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin
February 24, 2007

Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia*
March 24, 2007

Puccini's Il Trittico
April 28, 2007

–––––––

Gounod's Roméo et Juliette
December 15, 2007

Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel*
January 1, 2008

Verdi's Macbeth*
January 12, 2008

Puccini's Manon Lescaut
February 16, 2008

Britten's Peter Grimes*
March 15, 2008

Wagner's Tristan und Isolde
March 22, 2008

Puccini's La Bohème
April 5, 2008

Donizetti's La Fille du Régiment*
April 26, 2008

*New production
**World premiere