Nightly Opera Streams, July 13–19

Operatic legends and some of today’s most exciting artists take the stage in this week’s Nightly Opera Streams. This guide will help you prepare for the packed lineup of star-studded stagings.

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

In a conversation with Met General Manager Peter Gelb, director William Kentridge and Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin discuss how they aim to amplify the musical and dramatic themes of Berg’s masterpiece Wozzeck.

Verdi’s La Traviata was first presented by the nascent Metropolitan Opera Company during the third week of its inaugural season in 1883. Since then, the opera has appeared more than 1,000 times, starring more than 100 different sopranos as Violetta.

Arriving at the Met seven months after its world premiere, Puccini’s Turandot has long been a showcase for some of opera’s most exciting artists appearing in equally spectacular stagings.

In his new production of Le Nozze di Figaro, which premiered on Opening Night of the 2014–15 season, director Richard Eyre brought to the fore the sensuality of Mozart’s shimmering masterpiece. 

This Live in HD segment takes us to a 2016 rehearsal for the new production of Manon Lescaut with soprano Kristine Opolais and director Richard Eyre, who chat with host Renée Fleming about having Puccini in your blood, film noir, and femmes fatales.

After creating 11 productions for the company, director Franco Zeffirelli returned to the Met in 2008 for a revival of his signature production of La Bohème. He spoke about filming opera, respecting Puccini, and the “irresistible fire” of La Bohème.

Mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča, who made her Met debut in 2008 as Rosina in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, headlined the 2009 revival of the composer’s La Cenerentola.

Swedish baritone Peter Mattei, one of opera’s great singing actors, added another chapter to his Met legacy in 2019 with his role debut as the title character of Berg’s Wozzeck.

Marcello Giordani, who passed away in October 2019 and is featured in this week’s free stream of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, was one of the Met’s brightest star tenors in recent decades.

In Richard Eyre’s production of Le Nozze di Figaro, the page Cherubino makes a hasty escape from the Countess’s bedroom—taking a death defying leap out a second-story window.

One of the repertory’s most glamorous operas has been matched by equally glamorous casts in more than 200 Met performances since its company premiere in 1907.

Offering access to more than 700 complete performances of more than 150 operas, Met Opera on Demand allows subscribers to sift through 85 years of company history—including a dozen performances of La Traviata.

Franco Zeffirelli’s lavish production of Puccini’s La Bohème has dazzled audiences for nearly 40 years. This backstage video offers a look behind the scenes at how the monumental sets are changed.

South African artist and director William Kentridge has been responsible for three of the Met’s most thought-provoking productions in recent years—including the company’s first new staging of Berg’s Wozzeck in more than 20 years.

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 Richard Eyre’s 2016 film noir–inspired production of Manon Lescaut, soprano Kristine Opolais sang the title role of the rapacious seductress who drives the Chevalier des Grieux to what Puccini himself called “a desperate passion.”

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.

Though a rarity on the Met stage in the company’s early decades, Mozart’s masterpiece of comedy and social commentary has been a cornerstone of the Met repertory for the past 80 years, brought to life by a parade of great singers and conductors.

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.

Peter Mattei and Elza van den Heever, as Wozzeck and Marie, rehearse with Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Met Orchestra shortly before the premiere of William Kentridge’s new production this past winter.

Love, heartbreak, and death: a classic tragedy and a classic opera. Learn more about Verdi’s La Traviata with our In Focus podcast.

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

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