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Metropolitan Opera, July 11th, 2020 |
press release |
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MET STARS LIVE IN CONCERT
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The Met Launches Unique Pay-Per-View Series Featuring Some of Opera’s
Biggest Stars Singing Mainstream Operatic Repertoire in Striking Locations
Across Europe and the U.S.
Weekend series of 12 live concerts opens
Saturday, July 18, with Jonas Kaufmann performing from a historic abbey in
Polling, Bavaria
Summer and fall concerts also include Roberto
Alagna, Piotr Beczała, Angel Blue, Joseph Calleja, Javier Camarena, Diana
Damrau, Lise Davidsen, Joyce DiDonato, Renée Fleming, Aleksandra Kurzak,
Anna Netrebko, Sondra Radvanovsky, Bryn Terfel, Pretty Yende, and Sonya
Yoncheva
Locations include a terrace in Èze, France, overlooking the
Mediterranean Sea, a castle in Oslo, palaces in Vienna and Malta, a historic
mansion in Washington, D.C., and churches in Barcelona and Wales
Pay-per-view tickets, priced at $20, go on sale Tuesday, July 14, at noon ET
New York, NY (July 11, 2020)—The Metropolitan Opera announced its entry
into live pay-per-view concert events today, unveiling a lineup of 12
concerts from summer to fall featuring some of opera’s biggest stars in
striking locations across Europe and the United States. In a Zoom press
conference with most of the participating artists, Peter Gelb, the Met’s
General Manager, explained the parameters of the series of live events,
which will be shot with multiple cameras linked by satellite to a control
room in New York City, where the host of the programs, soprano Christine
Goerke, will be situated. Gary Halvorson, the Met’s award-winning director
of the company’s Live in HD cinema transmissions, will direct each of the
programs.
“This new initiative is intended to create live performance
opportunities for our artists and our audiences at a time when they both
sorely need it,” said Gelb. “Although some concert activity is beginning to
take place once again in some parts of the world, this is a chance for opera
fans to experience their favorite stars in real time, since it’s going to be
a long time before artists and their audiences are fully mobile again.” Gelb
also noted that the performances are being set in picturesque locations,
without audiences present in the venue. “We think it will be more satisfying
for the performers, as well as the thousands who will be watching at home,
not to experience these performances through the eyes of a socially
distanced audience.”
The cameras will be free to fully explore the
interiors of the venues, capturing the artists’ performances as well as the
architectural details of their unusual locations. Entrances and exits will
be dispensed with, and in order to give the singers breaks from their
strenuous groups of arias, the camera will cut back to New York and to Ms.
Goerke, who will introduce brief documentary segments that will fill these
pauses.
The first concert stars tenor Jonas Kaufmann, who will sing a
program of classic arias live from the ornate Polling Abbey located in the
Bavarian countryside outside Munich, Germany. The grand Baroque interior of
the historic venue, built in the 1770s with soaring vaulted ceilings and
breathtaking frescoes, will serve as a setting for a performance featuring
some of the repertory’s most spectacular showcases for the tenor voice.
Selections will include “Nessun dorma” from Turandot, “E lucevan le stelle”
from Tosca, “Ah! lève-toi, soleil” from Roméo et Juliette, “La fleur que tu
m’avais jetée” from Carmen, “È la solita storia” from L’Arlesiana, and “Un
dì all’azzurro spazio” from Andrea Chenier, among others. Helmut Deutsch
will accompany on piano.
Tickets for each recital are $20 and can be
purchased on the Met’s website at metopera.org, and the performances will be
available for on-demand viewing for 12 days following the live event. The
programs can be viewed on your computer, mobile device, or home
entertainment system (via Chromecast or AirPlay).
Complete schedule:
July 18 at 1pm ET: Jonas Kaufmann, live from the Polling Abbey in
Polling, Bavaria
August 1 at 1pm ET: Renée Fleming, live from the
Dumbarton Oaks Museum in Washington, D.C.
August 16 at 1pm ET:
Roberto Alagna and Aleksandra Kurzak, live outdoors from the Château de la
Chèvre d’Or in Èze, France (sole Sunday performance)
August 29 at 1pm
ET: Lise Davidsen, live from the Oscarshall Palace in Oslo, Norway
September 12 at 1pm ET: Joyce DiDonato, live from the Fundació Hospital de
la Santa Creu i Sant Pau in Barcelona, Spain
September 26 at 1pm ET:
Sondra Radvanovsky and Piotr Beczała, live from Barcelona, Spain (location
TBD)
October 10 at 1pm ET: Anna Netrebko, live from Liechtenstein
Palace in Vienna, Austria
October 24 at 1pm ET: Diana Damrau and
Joseph Calleja, live from Malta (castle location TBD)
Nov 7 at 1pm
ET: Pretty Yende and Javier Camarena, live from Zurich, Switzerland
(location TBD)
Nov 21 at 1pm ET: Sonya Yoncheva, live from Berlin,
Germany (location TBD)
December 12 at 1pm ET: Bryn Terfel, live from
Wales (church location TBD)
December 19 at 1pm ET: Angel Blue live
from New York City (location TBD)
The programs will be broadcast at a
later date on PBS.
Met Stars Live in Concert is sponsored by the
Neubauer Family Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and Rolex.
In
recognition of the health crisis and its impact on the Met vocal artists who
are out of work, Rolex is making a contribution to METCHORUSARTISTS.
The Metropolitan Opera is collaborating with Askonas Holt and Centre Stage
Artist Management as co-producers for some of these events.
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