Nightly Opera Streams, May 18–24

In this week of Nightly Opera Streams, several of opera’s greatest composers delve into the annals of history, myth, and legend. This guide will introduce you to the lineup of storied works.

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

Year in and year out, the 110 artisans in the Met costume shops are responsible for clothing the multitudes that fill the stage night after night—from Chinese ministers to Russian aristocrats to the humble inhabitants of Catfish Row.

The extraordinary and beloved Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who died in 2017, is featured in this week’s stream of Verdi’s La Traviata.

After languishing in obscurity for some 200 years, Mozart’s early masterpiece finally assumed its rightful place in the repertory in the late 20th century, including at the Met, where it has enjoyed numerous successful runs with outstanding casts.

Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera was inspired by the historical King Gustav III of Sweden. Director David Alden draws parallels in his film-noir inspired production between Gustav and Icarus.

In the Met’s 2011 production of Gounod’s Faust, which starred Jonas Kaufmann, director Des McAnuff reimagined the classic legend with a dreamlike staging set in the first half of the 20th century.

In this highlight from the Met’s At-Home Gala last spring, the Met Orchestra came together through nearly 50 individually recorded videos to perform the Prelude to Act III of Wagner’s Lohengrin, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Wagner’s sweeping, Romantic epic has received more Met performances than any of the composer’s other works, beginning in the company’s very first season and featuring many of opera’s finest Wagnerian singers over the ensuing 135+ years.

Few artists have had a greater impact on Met history than Franco Zeffirelli, the beloved director and designer who died in 2019.

A beautiful ingénue with a taste for the finer things makes her way to Paris, where she becomes irresistible to the men around her—including the passionate Chevalier des Grieux, whose all-consuming love for her leads to ruin. Learn more about Massenet’s Manon with our In Focus podcast.

Met resident lighting designer John Froelich and his team play a crucial role in achieving the myriad lighting effects called for by the company’s complex productions.

Mozart masterfully and simultaneously reveals the turbulent and conflicting emotions of his leading characters in this Act III quartet from Idomeneo.

Learn about the storied history of Wagner’s operas at the Met, from the house’s opening season in 1883 to the present day.

With his 2012 production of Un Ballo in Maschera, set in a cinematic Swedish atmosphere, director David Alden aimed to integrate the stylistic paradoxes of Verdi’s endlessly intriguing opera.

Dive into the details of Turandot’s fearsome “In questa reggia” with soprano Christine Goerke.

Resources from the Met’s education department are available for many of the operas featured in this streaming series. Designed for use in the classroom, they are perfect for parents whose kids are now learning from home, or for anyone who’d like to know more about opera.

Director Laurent Pelly discusses his Impressionism-inspired, Belle-Époque setting for Massenet’s Manon, in which the seductive and naive heroine is seen as a threat by the world of men—one who must be sacrificed.

Beloved bass-baritone James Morris reflects on singing more than 1,000 performances on the Met stage.

In ancient China, a princess tests the worthiness of her suitors by posing a series of riddles—killing those who answer incorrectly—until a brave warrior proves he’s up to the challenge. Learn more about Puccini’s Turandot with our In Focus podcast.

In Laurent Pelly’s 2012 production of Manon, soprano Anna Netrebko explored the extremes of Massenet’s irresistible heroine.

Tony Award–winning director Des McAnuff discusses his dreamlike, 20th-century staging of Faust, Gounod’s classic operatic take on the elderly scholar who sells his soul in return for eternal youth.