Nightly Opera Streams, May 10–16

This week’s free streams celebrate some of the extraordinary Met artists who have participated in the National Council Auditions over the past 60 years.  Learn more with this guide.

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

Director Susan Froemke reflects on the creation of The Audition, her celebrated documentary about the 2007 National Council Auditions.

Take a look back at some of Renée Fleming’s most powerful appearances in the company’s The Met: Live in HD series.

Tenor Lawrence Brownlee, a 2001 National Council Auditions winner, made his Met debut in 2007 as Count Almaviva in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and reprised the role in a 2014 HD broadcast. Here he sings an excerpt from his bravura final aria.

Roberto Devereux follows the ill-fated final years of Queen Elizabeth I, as she struggles to navigate monarchical duty and illicit romance. In this 2016 production preview, director David McVicar and soprano Sondra Radvanovsky discuss the opera’s important place in Donizetti’s Tudor trilogy.

Teresa Stratas, who sings Mimì in this week’s stream of La Bohème, enjoyed a Met career spanning more than three decades.  Read more about this fascinating and elusive artist.

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

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

Dive into the details of the Marschallin’s monologue on the passing of time with Renée Fleming and host Rhiannon Giddens in this episode of our Aria Code podcast, a collaboration with WQXR.

During the 2015–16 season, Sondra Radvanovsky sang all three of Donizetti’s Tudor Queens, a historic feat that culminated in her starring in Sir David McVicar’s Met-premiere production of Roberto Devereux.

Watch the trailer for The Audition, streamed this week, and go behind the scenes at the 2007 National Council Auditions, where each year thousands of hopefuls compete for a cash prize, the chance to sing on the Met stage—and the opportunity to launch a major operatic career.

In this mini-documentary from 1981, Franco Zeffirelli rehearses his new production of La Bohème and explains why he sees it as Puccini’s version of Romeo and Juliet.

Designer Catherine Zuber has charmed theatergoers—and won seven Tony Awards—for her breathtaking costumes for the Great White Way. Before the 2006 premiere of Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Zuber talked about sexing up the look of Rossini’s classic comedy.

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.

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.

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.

With a pair of title roles that have been proclaimed “unsingable” by critics and artists alike, Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde has encountered—or possibly courted—more than its fair share of mishaps at the Metropolitan.

When an artist appears on the Met stage, there is generally some noise—but not for Rob Besserer, who appears in Il Barbiere di Siviglia in the mute role of Ambrogio.

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