Have you always thought that you could get really into opera if it were more easily accessible? Well, thanks to the coronavirus, now is your chance. OperaWire has reported that the Metropolitan Opera will host “Nightly Met Opera Streams†on its official website in an attempt to continue providing opera to its audience members. “We’d like to provide some grand opera solace to opera lovers in these extraordinarily difficult times,†said Met general manager Peter Gelb in a press release. “Every night, we’ll be offering a different complete operatic gem from our collection of HD presentations from the past 14 years.â€
The stream will be free and will present encores of The Met’s acclaimed Live in HD series. The performances will begin at 7:30 p.m. EST and will be available to stream for 20 hours. The first week’s schedule, outlined below, will be featuring timeless classics as Carmen, La Bohème, and La Traviata. If your only familiarity with Carmen is the film Carmen: A Hip Hopera starring a young Beyoncé, and the closest you’ve come to watching La Bohème is watching Rent: Live, this is a great way to expand your horizons.
Monday, March 16 — Bizet’s Carmen
Conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, starring ElÄ«na GaranÄa and Roberto Alagna. Transmitted live on January 16, 2010.
Tuesday, March 17 — Puccini’s La Bohème
Conducted by Nicola Luisotti, starring Angela Gheorghiu and Ramón Vargas. Transmitted live on April 5, 2008.
Wednesday, March 18 — Verdi’s Il Trovatore
Conducted by Marco Armiliato, starring Anna Netrebko, Dolora Zajick, Yonghoon Lee, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. Transmitted live on October 3, 2015.
Thursday, March 19 — Verdi’s La Traviata
Conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, starring Diana Damrau, Juan Diego Flórez, and Quinn Kelsey. Transmitted live on December 15, 2018.
Friday, March 20 — Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment
Conducted by Marco Armiliato, starring Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Flórez. Transmitted live on April 26, 2008.
Saturday, March 21 — Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor
Conducted by Marco Armiliato, starring Anna Netrebko, Piotr Beczała, and Mariusz Kwiecien. Transmitted live on February 7, 2009.
Sunday, March 22 – Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin
Conducted by Valery Gergiev, starring Renée Fleming, Ramón Vargas, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. Transmitted live on February 24, 2007.