Boris Godunov

After an absence of nearly two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, spectacular live opera returned to cinemas worldwide with the launch of the Met’s 2021–22 Live in HD season. And this stirring performance of Boris Godunov—presented in Mussorgsky’s original one-act version from 1869—proved a perfect way to inaugurate the new season. Renowned German bass René Pape gives a riveting performance as the tortured title tsar, reprising a harrowing portrayal that he first brought to the Met a decade earlier, with Maestro Sebastian Weigle on the podium to lead the full forces of the Met Orchestra and Chorus. Alongside Pape, the sterling ensemble cast also features tenor David Butt Philip as Grigory, tenor Maxim Paster as Shuisky, baritone Aleksey Bogdanov as Shchelkalov, bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green as Varlaam, and bass Ain Anger as Pimen in a vivid staging by director Stephen Wadsworth.