Nightly Opera Streams, June 22–28

Kick off the first week of summer with a thrilling lineup of Nightly Opera Streams—from fairy tales to classic tragedies to John Adams’s musical take on the birth of the atomic age. This guide will help you prepare for an explosive week of opera.

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

Learn about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the brilliant Manhattan Project physicist at the center of John Adams’s Doctor Atomic.

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

Between 1910 and 1937, new works flourished on the Met stage as the company committed to presenting a number of operas by contemporary American composers.

Last spring mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe joined Executive Stage Director Paula Suozzi and Assistant Director Peter McClintock for a virtual conversation about Cendrillon and took questions about the opera from students.

Tony Award–winning director Julie Taymor discusses her spectacular production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, which has had more than 100 performances at the Met.

Before the curtain went up on their new production of Samson et Dalila, director Darko Tresnjak, set designer Alexander Dodge, and costume designer Linda Cho discussed collaborating on more than 50 productions and making their Met debuts together.

American composer John Adams reflects on his work at the forefront of modern opera, his sources of inspiration, and the telltale signs of a good story.

In the storied history of the Metropolitan Opera, Luciano Pavarotti, who stars in this week’s stream of Andrea Chénier, holds a secure place as one of the company’s most celebrated tenors.

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.

Take a peek behind the scenes in this time-lapse video documenting the Met scenic shop’s work on an enormous set piece for Darko Tresnjak’s 2018 production of Samson et Dalila.

Celebrated mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, who stars in Massenet’s Cendrillon, explains how this French take on the Cinderella story sparks joy in Laurent Pelly’s storybook production.

In advance of her role debut as Manon, soprano Lisette Oropesa spoke about her ever-expanding repertoire and her empathy for Massenet's fascinating heroine.

Dive into the details of the Queen of the Night’s iconic rage aria “Der Hölle Rache” with soprano Kathryn Lewek and host Rhiannon Giddens in this episode of our Aria Code podcast, a collaboration with WQXR.

Beloved tenor Luciano Pavarotti sings the moving aria “Una furtiva lagrima” from Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore in the 1991 performance being streamed this week.

An immortal biblical tale. An underrated operatic masterpiece, with some of the repertory’s most luscious and seductive music. Learn more about Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila with our In Focus podcast.

In his remarkable Doctor Atomic, composer John Adams explores the life and work of Robert Oppenheimer and the march toward one of the most controversial inventions of 20th-century science.

In this 2018 preview of his new production of Samson et Dalila, director Darko Tresnjak discusses his bold staging, and stars Roberto Alagna and Elīna Garanča chat about their roles and on-stage chemistry.

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