Nightly Opera Streams, January 4–10

Explore the fraught love triangles, fearsome face-offs, and deadly duels on offer with this week of free Nightly Met Opera Streams.

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

Discover some of the great divas who have thrilled and terrified Met audiences with their mad scenes over the past half-century.

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

A passionate, larger-than-life stage actress vies with a conniving princess for the love of the same dashing count. Learn more about Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur with our In Focus podcast.

David McVicar’s electrifying staging of Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, which premiered in 2014, gave new life to the beloved verismo pairing at the Met. Hear from the director about his fresh approach to the two operas.

Penny Woolcock’s spectacular production of Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles, which premiered in 2015, enlisted projection designers and acrobats to conjure the opera’s evocative aquatic setting. Learn more about the stunning diving sequences in this behind-the-scenes video.

In this playful Valentine’s Day conversation from 2015, Joyce DiDonato chats with her La Donna Del Lago co-star Juan Diego Flórez about the complicated plot and challenging music of Rossini’s brilliant opera.

Superstar soprano Anna Netrebko has appeared in more Live in HD transmissions than any other principal artist. Watch highlights from a dozen of her roles, including this week’s stream of Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur.

Designer John Macfarlane and director David McVicar discuss the opulent courts and stark forests on display in their Met-premiere production of Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda.

On New Year’s Eve 2018, Anna Netrebko took on the title role of Adriana Lecouvreur in Sir David McVicar’s new production, which embraced Cilea’s glamorous 18th-century Parisian setting while also mining for deeper artistic significance. 

In his 2015 production of opera’s most popular double bill, Sir David McVicar emphasized the differences of Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, revealing new dimensions in each work in the process.

Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, who sang Elena in the Met premiere of Rossini’s La Donna del Lago, discusses the challenges and rewards of the art of bel canto.

Drawn from every era of operatic composition, from the Baroque to the modern day, a wide array of enthralling French works have appeared on the Met stage.

The revival of the bel canto repertoire that began in the mid–20th century was late in coming to the Met, but the company has made up for lost time in recent years, including with important productions of Donizetti’s three operas based on the lives of Anne Boleyn, Mary Stuart, and Elizabeth I.

Part love triangle, part political drama, and packed throughout with vocal fireworks, La Donna del Lago is Rossini’s romantic retelling of Sir Walter Scott’s epic poem The Lady of the Lake. Hear from director Paul Curran about his atmospheric production.

Take a look at some of the great Met tenors who have thrilled audiences with their signature portrayals of Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana and Canio in Pagliacci.

Diana Damrau, who starred as Leïla in the 2015 premiere of Penny Woolcock’s production of Les Pêcheurs de Perles, explains why Bizet’s heroine is stronger than she seems.

Bizet’s melody-rich Les Pêcheurs de Perles returned to the Met repertory for the first time in 100 years during the 2015–16 season, in a sumptuous production by Penny Woolcock.

Donizetti’s bel canto masterpiece Maria Stuarda had its Met premiere in 2012—a true cause for celebration, according to star Joyce DiDonato and director Sir David McVicar.

In Sir David McVicar’s 2009 staging, Verdi’s Il Trovatore reclaimed its place as a dramatic—not just musical—masterwork.

One of opera’s greatest voices, Dolora Zajick has delivered knockout Met performances of many of the repertory’s most dramatic mezzo-soprano roles over the past three decades.

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.

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