The Metropolitan Opera: Fidelio

For years, *The Magic Flute* has been one of the most frequently performed operas at the Aix-en-Provence Festival. After an eight-year absence, Mozart’s work is now back on the programme. Clément Cogitore interprets the plot as a modern coming-of-age story: Tamino and Pamina leave the world of childhood behind and enter a reality in which beauty is fragile and truth is uncertain.

The exhilarating soprano Lise Davidsen makes her Live in HD debut in one of her signature roles, the mythological Greek heroine of Strauss’s enchanting masterpiece. The outstanding cast for this March 12 transmission also features mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard as the Composer of the opera-within-an-opera around which the plot revolves, with soprano Brenda Rae as the spirited Zerbinetta and tenor Brandon Jovanovich as Ariadne’s lover, the god Bacchus. Marek Janowski conducts. This live cinema transmission is part of the Met’s award-winning Live in HD series, bringing opera to movie theaters across the globe.

Nobleman Boris Godunov accumulates power in Russia, first as regent, then as tsar. But the ghosts of the past catch up with him and he ends up losing not only his power but his sanity. Russia sinks ever deeper into a mire of corruption, intrigue and coups. In his grand choral opera, Modest Mussorgsky deals with a theme that offers poignant parallels to today’s world: the extremes to which one man’s thirst for power can lead. The director Kirill Serebrennikov incorporates his own experiences in Russia to present his take on an opera about political turmoil and its consequences. Serebrennikov’s production focuses on the effect on the people of high-stakes political scheming. Conductor Vasily Petrenko makes his Amsterdam debut leading the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. A top-flight cast is led bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny, celebrated for his ability to get into the skin of his characters both vocally and dramatically, singing the title role for the first time.

Anew production of Tannhäuser, which was premiered on 26 July 2019 and presented the Bayreuth debut of conductor Valery Gergiev, as well as the house debut of young soprano star Lise Davidsen. Tobias Kratzer’s staging presented Tannhäuser as a wildly contemporary parable of art and freedom which was praised as “novel” and “wrenching” (New York Times) and received exceptional press acclaim. hey were joined by mezzo soprano Elena Zhidkova’s Venus (“scene stealing”, according to Opera Today), baritone Markus Eiche’s Wolfram and Stephen Milling’s Landgraf.

The electrifying Lise Davidsen tackles one of the ultimate roles for dramatic soprano: the Irish princess Isolde in Wagner’s transcendent meditation on love and death. Heroic tenor Michael Spyres stars opposite Davidsen as the love-drunk Tristan. Mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova reprises her signature portrayal of Brangäne, alongside bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny, who sings Kurwenal after celebrated Met appearances in Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer and Ring cycle. Bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green makes an important role debut as King Marke.

Met Music Director James Levine leads this Live in HD presentation of Wagner’s early Romantic opera, starring Johan Botha in the title role of the minnesinger torn between earthly passion and true love. Eva-Maria Westbroek is Elisabeth, whose unswerving devotion redeems Tannhäuser’s soul, and Peter Mattei sings Wolfram, his faithful friend. Michelle DeYoung as the love goddess Venus and Günther Groissböck as Landgraf Hermann complete the cast. Otto Schenk’s classic production was the first of his acclaimed Wagner stagings at the Met.

Wagner's Ring of the Nibelungen is regarded as one of the most important milestones in the history of music. In the first part, the Rheingold, it begins with the chain of fateful entanglements that ultimately attracts the downfall of the race of the gods.

When Australian composer Brett Dean’s Hamlet had its world premiere at the Glyndebourne Festival in 2017, The Guardian declared, “New opera doesn’t often get to sound this good … Shakespeare offers a gauntlet to composers that shouldn’t always be picked up, but Dean’s Hamlet rises to the challenge.” On June 4, this riveting contemporary masterpiece appears live in cinemas, with Neil Armfield, who directed the work’s premiere, bringing his acclaimed staging to the Met stage. Many of the original cast members have followed, including tenor Allan Clayton in the title role. Nicholas Carter makes his Met debut conducting a remarkable ensemble, which also features soprano Brenda Rae as Ophelia, mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly as Gertrude, baritone Rod Gilfry as Claudius, and legendary bass John Tomlinson as the ghost of Hamlet’s father. This live cinema transmission is part of the Met’s award-winning Live in HD series, bringing opera to movie theaters across the globe

Raphaël Pichon and his Ensemble Pygmalion resonate with the humanity, hope and light that permeate Johann Sebastian Bach's most beautiful sacred scores. A concert full of emotion.

Mussorgsky was inspired to compose his masterpiece Boris Godunov after reading Pushkin’s Shakespeare-inspired play of the same name. It features one of the most dramatically rewarding bass-baritone roles: a noble ruler who loves his children and his people, but whose thirst for power has led him to commit a terrible crime. Bryn Terfel is “a powerful new Boris” (The Observer) in Richard Jones’ new production of the original 1869 score. Antonio Pappano conducts an outstanding cast that also includes John Graham-Hall as the crafty Prince Shuisky and John Tomlinson as the vagabond monk Varlaam.

Tony Award–winning director Ivo van Hove makes a major Met debut with a new take on Mozart’s tragicomedy, re-setting the familiar tale of deceit and damnation in an abstract architectural landscape and shining a light into the dark corners of the story and its characters. Maestro Nathalie Stutzmann makes her Met debut conducting a star-studded cast led by baritone Peter Mattei as a magnetic Don Giovanni, alongside the Leporello of bass-baritone Adam Plachetka. Sopranos Federica Lombardi, Ana María Martínez, and Ying Fang make a superlative trio as Giovanni’s conquests—Donna Anna, Donna Elvira, and Zerlina—and tenor Ben Bliss is Don Ottavio.

Mahler's 8th is one of the greatest orchestral and choral works in the classical repertoire and is rarely performed. The work has been called the 'Symphony of a Thousand', and requires eight soloists and several choirs, in addition to the orchestra. Edward Gardner's last concert in the role of Chief Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra was during the Bergen International Festival, with the monumental Mahler's 8th Symphony in E-flat major on the programme. The concert won the Critics' Prize for Music 2023–2024, and what has been described as a "heavenly finale" has been captured for the big screen. 'Try to imagine the whole universe beginning to ring and resound. There are no longer human voices, but planets and suns revolving.' the composer said of his eighth symphony. When the work was premiered in 1910, with Mahler conducting, it broke all the rules and boundaries of what symphonies could and should be.

Suspecting her missing husband is being held as a political prisoner, a noblewoman disguises herself as a male prison guard. She discovers him weakened in the darkest dungeon, but will she be able to rescue him before it is too late?

The Marriage of Figaro is one of the most emblematic operas in the repertoire. Brahms spoke of it as a “miracle” and the Countess' complaint still resonates today as one of the most heartbreaking musical pages. It was by resuming Beaumarchais' comedy, which caused a scandal in Parisian society, that Mozart and his librettist Da Ponte began their first collaboration. The play was banned by Joseph II in 1785 at the Vienna Theater. Is it because it exposed too much to the forefront the contradictions of an already faltering regime, ready to collapse with the French Revolution? Netia Jones preserves the very essence of Beaumarchais' play by questioning human relationships with humor but not without mischief, in a production which confuses reality and fiction to the point of asking, like the Count: "Are we playing a comedy?" »

Janáček's three-act opera Katya Kabanova, staged by Barrie Kosky and staged at the Felsenreitschule by Czech conductor Jakub Hrůša with an international cast of soloists, was performed on August 7 at the 2022 Salzburg Festival. The opera is based on the play The Storm by Aleksandr Ostrovsky. Set in a small Russian town, the story revolves around Káta, who is trapped in a loveless marriage to an abusive man named Boris. When she meets and falls in love with a young man named Vána Kudrjáš, she finally experiences happiness and passion. But their relationship is short-lived, as Boris finds out and forces Káta to confess her infidelity in front of the entire town. The opera explores themes of social conformity, oppression, and the consequences of forbidden love. Stage director Barrie Kosky creates an intimate but impressive setting in the magnificent Felsenreitschule.

Rusalka, a water spirit, lives with her family in the pure waters of the forest lake. When she falls in love with a Prince, she sacrifices her voice and leaves her home in the hope of finding true love in a new world – a world that does not love her back.

Bass René Pape, the world’s reigning Boris, reprises his overwhelming portrayal of the tortured tsar caught between grasping ambition and crippling paranoia, kicking off the Live in HD season on October 9, 2021. Conductor Sebastian Weigle leads Mussorgsky’s masterwork, a pillar of the Russian repertoire, in its original 1869 version. Stephen Wadsworth’s affecting production poignantly captures the hope and suffering of the Russian people as well as the tsar himself. This live cinema transmission is part of the Met’s award-winning Live in HD series, bringing opera to movie theaters across the globe.

Extraordinary soprano Lise Davidsen stars as the volatile diva Floria Tosca for the first time at the Met. David McVicar’s thrilling production also features tenor Freddie De Tommaso in his eagerly anticipated company debut as Tosca’s revolutionary lover, Cavaradossi, and powerhouse baritone Quinn Kelsey as the sadistic chief of police Scarpia. Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the electrifying score, which features some of Puccini’s most memorable melodies. This live cinema transmission is part of the Met’s award-winning Live in HD series, bringing opera to movie theaters across the globe.

Based on Oscar Wildes story The Birthday of the Infanta, Zemlinskys single-act opera Der Zwerg is the tragic tale of a dwarf who is presented at court, falls in love with the beautiful Donna Clara, but is ultimately forced to see himself as others see him and to die of a broken heart. Preceded by Schoenbergs Accompaniment to a Cinematographic Scene, Op. 34, Zemlinskys Romantic score is full of psychological intrigue. Is Der Zwerg a critique of societys superficiality? Is it the composers self-portrait in his doomed affair with Alma Schindler? Director Tobias Kratzers stunning, transparent production creates a space in which each character is thrown into sharp relief in this fine, noble and melancholy work.

A staging of Richard Strauss' opera "Ariadne auf Naxos" by Katie Mitchell. Recorded at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence.

Count Almaviva lives with his Countess on their estate near Seville. The Count has his eye on his wife’s maid Susanna, who is betrothed to the Count’s servant, Figaro. Much to Figaro’s dismay, the Count plans to seduce Susanna on wedding night. Meanwhile, Cherubino, the Count’s young page, is infatuated with the Countess, but has just been dismissed after being discovered with Barbarina, the gardener Antonio’s daughter.

Daphne lives in a world that is foreign to her. She is the embodiment of nature and finds human behaviour and desire alien. Apollo and Leucippus, both of whom desire Daphne, attend the feast of Dionysus. Leucippus puts his plan into action: Daphne abandons herself to the celebrations. Too late, Apollo, under Leucippus’ spell, realises he has acted against his divine destiny and Daphne’s nature.

In the mid-17th century, Poland was the largest, most democratic, and most tolerant country in Europe. However, a tragic civil war brought about the gradual decline of the once glorious republic... An epic story about the Cossack rebellion against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

At Theater an der Wien Stanisław Moniuszko’s Polish national opera Halka is performed by a superb cast including Corinne Winters ('devotedly') , Piotr Beczała ('vocally outstanding') and Tomasz Konieczny ('his acting is piercing') (Der Standard). The Polish leading team, above all director Mariusz Treliński, puts the plot into a supercooled crime aesthetic. The ORF Radio Symphonie-Orchester Wien under the baton of Łukasz Borowicz plays with perceptible delight.

Considered to be one of his most brilliant creations, Mozart’s Idomeneo is a perfect masterpiece for the two enfants terribles of classical music and opera staging, conductor Teodor Currentzis and stage director Peter Sellars. Joined by the exceptional voices of Russell Thomas, Paula Murrihy, Ying Fang, and Nicole Chevalier, this is a one-of-a-kind performance of the score in the city where its creator was born!

Strauss’s elegant romance brings the glamour and enchantment of 19th-century Vienna to cinemas worldwide in a sumptuous production by legendary director Otto Schenk that “is as beautiful as one could hope” (The New York Times). Soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen stars as the title heroine, a young noblewoman in search of love on her own terms. Radiant soprano Louise Alder is her sister, Zdenka, and bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny is the dashing count who sweeps Arabella off her feet.

Max, a young hunter, must win a shooting competition to claim the hand of his beloved Agathe. But on the eve of the competition, seemingly having lost all shooting prowess, Max allows himself to be convinced by his rival Kaspar to make a pact with the devil to use seven magic bullets which never miss their target. Wagner said that Carl Maria von Weber’s early-Romantic gem was the most German of German operas. With touches of the eerie supernatural, Der Freischütz is an irresistible mix of colourful folklore, tender romance, and a passionate struggle between good and evil - all captured in Weber’s tuneful and dramatic score. Successful Russian theatre, opera and film director Kirill Serebrennikov makes his debut in Amsterdam. In his approach to the opera, the struggle for success is transposed from the world of hunters and that of artists.