Nightly Opera Streams, April 26–May 2

Spend April in Paris with a week of operas set in the inimitable French capital. Start your musical journey with this guide.

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

In this video, follow director and choreographer Susan Stroman as she works on Lehár’s witty, waltzing operetta, with commentary from Renée Fleming, Nathan Gunn, and Kelli O’Hara.

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

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.

In 2008, Giacomo Puccini's sumptuous yet tragic love story La Rondine returned to the Met stage for the first time in more than 70 years, in a spirited production by Nicolas Joël.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Susan Stroman’s production of The Merry Widow opened on New Year’s Eve 2014, with Renée Fleming in the title role. Before the premiere, star and director spoke about the enduring charms of Lehár’s enchanting operetta.

As he prepared to star as Ruggero in La Rondine—in a production that marked the work’s first Met performances in more than 70 years—tenor Roberto Alagna spoke about Puccini’s unappreciated gem.

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.

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. 

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 Verdi’s La Traviata.

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.

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.

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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