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

Series also includes 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, a historic mansion in Washington, D.C., and iconic churches in Malta, and Wales

Pay-per-view tickets, priced at $20, are now on sale on the Met’s website

New York, NY (July 11, 2020; revised September 25)—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 14 days following the live event. The programs can be viewed on your computer, mobile device, or home entertainment system (via Chromecast or AirPlay).

Complete schedule:

July 18 at 1pm ET: Jonas Kaufmann, live from the Polling Abbey in Polling, Bavaria

August 1 at 1pm ET: Renée Fleming, live from the Dumbarton Oaks Museum in Washington, D.C.

August 16 at 1:30pm ET: Roberto Alagna and Aleksandra Kurzak, live outdoors from the Château de la Chèvre d’Or in Èze, France (sole Sunday performance)

August 29 at 1pm ET: Lise Davidsen, live from the Oscarshall Palace in Oslo, Norway

September 12 at 1:30pm ET: Joyce DiDonato, live from the Jahrhunderthalle in Bochum, Germany

October 24 at 1pm ET: Diana Damrau and Joseph Calleja, live from Malta (location TBD)

Nov 7 at 1pm ET: Pretty Yende and Javier Camarena, live from Zurich, Switzerland (location TBD)

Nov 21 at 1pm ET: Sonya Yoncheva, live from Berlin, Germany (location TBD)

December 12 at 1pm ET: Bryn Terfel, live from Wales (church location TBD)

December 19 at 1pm ET: Angel Blue live from New York City (location TBD)

January 23 at 1pm: Sondra Radvanovsky and Piotr Beczała, live from (location TBD)

February 6 at 1pm ET: Anna Netrebko, live from Salzburg, Austria (location TBD)

The programs will be broadcast at a later date on PBS.

Met Stars Live in Concert is sponsored by the Neubauer Family Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and Rolex. 

In recognition of the health crisis and its impact on the Met vocal artists who are out of work, Rolex is making a contribution to METCHORUSARTISTS.

The Metropolitan Opera is collaborating with Askonas Holt and Centre Stage Artist Management as co-producers for some of these events.