Nightly Opera Streams, May 11–17

This week’s lineup takes the action to a number of eye-catching locales, from the Greek isle of Naxos to the neon lights of Sin City. This guide will give you the lay of the land.

View the Playbills from the original performance dates for each stream, including synopses, program notes, and more.

In anticipation of the 2012 Met premiere of his operatic version of The Tempest, composer Thomas Adès discussed his creative process and what it takes to be faithful to Shakespeare.

A highlight of last week’s At-Home Gala, the Met Orchestra and Chorus came together through nearly 100 individually recorded videos to perform “Va, pensiero” from Verdi’s Nabucco, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Massenet’s sensuous Goethe adaptation has had an unsteady place in the repertory at the Met, as elsewhere, but has enjoyed periods of great success when brought to life by glamorous singing and stylish interpretations.

Discover some of the great divas who have thrilled and terrified Met audiences with their mad scenes over the past half-century.

In this podcast episode, soprano Nadine Sierra and host Rhiannon Giddens discuss the overwhelming emotions of young love and dive into the details of Gilda’s breathtaking Act I aria, “Caro nome.”

In the fall of 2019, the entire Met family—along with the opera world at large—mourned the loss of Jessye Norman, one of the great sopranos of the past half-century.

Donizetti’s riveting bel canto showcase for virtuoso coloratura sopranos has been a consistent presence in the Met repertory since the company’s very first season, with several legendary artists singing the title role.

In his 2008 production of Britten’s Peter Grimes, director John Doyle examines one of opera’s most intriguing outcasts and the community that judges him.

During the 2012–13 season, Thomas Adès’s The Tempest had a thrilling Met premiere, with the composer conducting Robert Lepage’s magical production and magnetic baritone Simon Keenlyside starring as Prospero.

Based on Goethe’s novel, Werther tells of a tortured poet’s unhappy infatuation with a married woman. In this 2014 video, director Richard Eyre describes his effort to capture the poetry, impassioned drama, and “autumnal feel” of Massenet's gripping score.

Friends and colleagues of the great English composer reflect on his incomparable musical legacy.

Award-winning set designer Christine Jones discusses bringing Verdi’s Rigoletto into the neon age in Michael Mayer’s Las Vegas–inspired production.

Tenor Jonas Kaufmann, who starred in the title role of Richard Eyre’s 2014 production of Werther, explains why Massenet and Goethe are such a good fit.

After nearly three decades staging the plays of Shakespeare, Robert Lepage turned to Thomas Adès’s operatic version of The Tempest, directing the work’s Met-premiere production in 2012.

Joyce DiDonato speaks with director Michael Mayer and two of the stars of his neon-bedecked staging of Verdi’s Rigoletto—Željko Lučić and Piotr Beczała—during an early rehearsal for the production.

Few operatic conventions are more thrilling to behold than the “mad scene,” and the one in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor is definitive.

Director Robert Lepage discusses his fantastic, magic-infused staging of Thomas Adès The Tempest—and the opera’s Shakespearean origins—in this 2012 video.

Director Michael Mayer explores the connection between Verdi’s Rigoletto and the lurid underworld of 1960s Las Vegas, where his production is set, in this 2013 video.