Free Opera from NY
During the Coronavirus pandemic, you can enjoy some spectacular performances starring some of opera’s greatest singers. A nightly Opera stream will be broadcast from The Metropolitan Opera in New York at 7.30pm EDT, which translates to 1.30am local time the following day here in Spain - but available for a period of 23 hours.
Log on at: www.metopera.org
THURSDAY, APRIL 9
Wagner’s Parsifal from March 2013. Considered the composer’s “spiritual” opera,Parsifal tells the story of a young man on a quest for the Holy Grail and is one of the most spiritually beautiful of all operas. Wagner has given us poetry, he has given us mythology, aspects of Christianity, and some of the most beautiful melodic themes.
Starring Katarina Dalayman, Jonas Kaufmann, Peter Mattei, Evgeny Nikitin, and René Pape, conducted by Daniele Gatti. Can be watched on Friday.
FRIDAY, APRIL 10
Good Friday is Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette from January 2017
No playwright has had his works retold as many times and in as many different formats as Shakespeare but even those who haven’t read it inevitably know the star-crossed-lovers plot and a few of the most famous lines. Features no fewer than four stunningly gorgeous duets for the lovers—including an extended death scene for the title pair.
Starring Diana Damrau, Vittorio Grigolo, Elliot Madore, and Mikhail Petrenko, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. Can be watch throughout Saturday.
SATURDAY, APRIL 11
Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, a brilliant bel canto farce, effortlessly merging subtle moments of physical comedy with over-thetop gags, cleverly insightful design with hilarious props and foils. Don Pasquale tells of a lecherous elderly Roman bachelor who falls on hard times and tries to take a moneyed woman— whom he assumes to be a modest and demure virgin—as his wife. In fact, Norina, the beautiful young apple of his eye, is a shrewd young widow, and she views it as her mission to teach the Don a lesson he won’t ever forget. Starring Anna Netrebko, Matthew Polenzani, Mariusz Kwiecien, and John Del Carlo, conducted by James Levine. Can be watched throughout Sunday.
SUNDAY, APRIL 12
Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, set in a carnival fairground inspired by 1950’s Coney Island exploring love, temptation, betrayal, and reconciliation amid the spectacle of the sideshow. A quartet of young lovers and two cunning tricksters at the heart of the story share the Met stage with sword swallowers, fireeaters, and a live Burmese python and begins with a bet.
Starring Amanda Majeski, Serena Malfi, Kelli O’Hara, Ben Bliss, Adam Plachetka, and Christopher Maltman, conducted by David Robertson. Can be watched throughout Monday.