Nightly Opera Streams, November 30–December 6

From the legendary Luciano Pavarotti and Leontyne Price to current superstars Anna Netrebko and Jonas Kaufmann, this week of streams presents some of opera’s most outstanding artists in roles that are particularly significant pieces of their legacy. Peruse this guide to learn more about the lineup.

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

Learn about one of the greatest voices in Met history—the legendary soprano Leontyne Price, whose 1985 farewell performance of Aida is featured in this week’s streaming schedule.

She’s one of opera’s iconic heroines, the irresistible Gypsy seductress who leads her jealous lover to tragedy. Learn more about Bizet’s Carmen with our In Focus podcast.

In 2014, Anna Netrebko made her sensational Met role debut as Lady Macbeth. In this backstage interview from the Live in HD transmission, host Anita Rachvelishvili asks the soprano about her approach to the fiery antiheroine.

Puccini’s operatic thrill ride Tosca features a fictional diva that’s one of the ultimate showcases for the real thing. But at a time when the term “diva” is thrown around seemingly willy-nilly, what exactly did the composer have in mind?

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.

In the early days of the pandemic, mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča, director Sir Richard Eyre, and associate choreographer Sara Erde spoke to Met Executive Stage Director Paula Suozzi about Bizet’s Carmen and took questions from students.

Explore Lady Macbeth’s legendary sleepwalking scene with soprano Anna Netrebko.

Tchaikovsky’s romantic adaptation of Pushkin got a slow start at the Metropolitan, but, especially in recent decades, it has become the most popular Russian opera in the company’s repertoire.

Celebrated soprano Kathleen Battle, who sings Zerbinetta in this week's stream of Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, mesmerized Met audiences with the purity and beauty of her voice. Read about her career with the company.

In the storied history of the Metropolitan Opera, Luciano Pavarotti holds a secure place as one of the company’s most celebrated tenors.

In his mesmerizing production of Parsifal, which premiered in 2013, Canadian director François Girard explores the diverse spiritual influences of Wagner’s meditative final masterpiece as well as what the piece has to say to modern-day audiences.

An epic Egyptian backdrop. An intimate love story. Some of Verdi’s most stirring melodies and ensembles. Learn more about Aida with our In Focus podcast.

Based on one of the Bard’s eeriest plays, Verdi’s grim tragedy has courted controversy and scandal from even before its 1959 Met premiere.

Tenor Roberto Alagna explores Don José’s devastating Flower Song from Bizet's Carmen.

Baritone Željko Lučić has sung many of Verdi’s greatest roles at the Met, including the title character of Macbeth, which he has sung with the company in three different seasons. In this interview preceding the 2019 revival, he spoke about his evolving view of the character and his devotion to Verdi’s music.

The extraordinary and beloved Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who died in 2017, is featured in this week’s stream of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin.

Verdi’s grandest opera has also been one of the most frequently performed in the Met’s repertory for the entire history of the company. Learn about some of the notable stars and productions that have brought ancient Egypt to life on the Met stage over the years.

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

Read how, against the wishes of Wagner’s widow, the Met presented the U.S. premiere of the composer’s final opera in 1903.

The Met has presented nearly 1,000 performances of Puccini’s Tosca, starting with the work’s U.S. premiere in 1901. Explore the opera’s fascinating history at the Met.

The operas of Giuseppe Verdi have been performed around 5,700 times at the Metropolitan Opera, more than those of any other composer by a wide margin.

Learn about the Met career of great American baritone Cornell MacNeil, one of the great singers of the second half of the 20th century, who stars in this week’s stream of Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini.

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