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Opera History Tour in Two Weeks!

Updated: Nov 8, 2020

It’s a cultural virtual tour - if it’s Tuesday it must be Tchaikovsky?

The Met has dealt with its unremitting task of livestreaming an opera a day by devoting two weeks to 14 different composers, a different decade of opera every day. The tour begins with Handel and ends with Adès.

So I'm dealing with the blog post task by one whopping summary in this post!


Most of these productions have screened early in the pandemic panorama of free opera viewing. If you missed them, check up on reviews from past blogs. Some of these productions are pretty special. Almost all are well worth revisiting, but the full tour would be overwhelming - so follow the links here to select where you spend your precious time.


Dates are for Melbourne.

Breaking out of lockdown isn't easy! The Exterminating Angel comes in on November 5th - below.

Tuesday, November 3 Handel’s Rodelinda

Starring Renée Fleming, Stephanie Blythe, Andreas Scholl, Iestyn Davies, Joseph Kaiser, and Shenyang, conducted by Harry Bicket. From December 3, 2011.

It was way back in June that the Met screened this Handel gem. Our blog post is here . The production was much praised, partly for the male voices - it stars the brilliant counter tenors Andreas Scholl as her husband and Iestyn Davies as his friend.


Wednesday, November 4 Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice

It's Gluck's version, not Gounod's. Some gorgeous music. Starring Danielle de Niese and Stephanie Blythe, conducted by James Levine. From January 24, 2009.

Tommasini in NYTimes said it all here: 'Mezzo-Soprano Takes Command With Bolts of Melody... a once-in-a-generation opera singer has arrived '. The formidable Stephanie Blythe is an Orpheus to remember. Here's her Che puro ciel.


Thursday, November 5 Mozart’s Idomeneo Starring Elsa van den Heever, Nadine Sierra, Alice Coote, Matthew Polenzani, , conducted by James Levine. From 2017. Remember Elektra’s hissy fit? This production screened in October – here’s our commentary. Our group agreed it’s a lesser opera but a great tackling of the music.


Friday, November 6 Rossini’s Semiramide Starring Angela Meade, Elizabeth DeShong, Javier Camarena, Ildar Abdrazakov, and Ryan Speedo Green, conducted by Maurizio Benini. From March 10, 2018.

This production screened in June – our blog post is here .


Saturday, November 7 Verdi’s La Forza del Destino Starring Leontyne Price, Giuseppe Giacomini, Leo Nucci, and Bonaldo Giaiotti, conducted by James Levine. From March 24, 1984.


Sunday, November 8

This version of Gounod’s version of Shakespeare screened way back in July. Details and reviews are on our blog here.

The singing is superb and the fidelity to the original opera fine – but you maybe don’t want to see it twice.




In this uber-traditional performance, Michael Volle is the cobbler-poet Hans Sachs, starring with Johan Botha as Walther, Annette Dasch as Eva. All conducted by James Levine, as in the good old days. From December 13, 2014. Go to our earlier blog post here for discussion of this opera when Glyndebourne presented it. Trailer here.

'If the Met’s performance Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg of last Saturday were one of its own characters, it would be Veit Pogner. Pogner, Eva’s father, is aging, jovial, traditional, filthy rich (he is, after all, a goldsmith), not a great thinker, and maybe hasn’t quite thought through all of the implications of his grand plans. This was a solid Meistersinger, and it was a pleasure to have Wagner back at the Met after too long an absence. Most of it was good and a few things were more than good. Except for Michael Volle’s fascinating Hans Sachs, it was not daring and it was not exciting, but some meat and potatoes Wagner like we haven’t gotten in a while.'


Tuesday, November 10 Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta / Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle Starring Anna Netrebko and Piotr Beczała in Iolanta, and Nadja Michael and Mikhail Petrenko in Bluebeard’s Castle, conducted by Valery Gergiev. From February 14, 2015.


Wednesday, November 11 Strauss’s Salome Starring Karita Mattila, Ildikó Komlósi, Kim Begley, Joseph Kaiser, and Juha Uusitalo, conducted by Patrick Summers. From October 11, 2008.


Thursday, November 12 Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West Starring Deborah Voigt, Marcello Giordani, and Lucio Gallo, conducted by Nicola Luisotti. From January 8, 2011.

It screened in September, and if you missed it, take the chance to see Debbie Voigt in one of her most relaxed performances. Here’s our blog post.


Friday, November 13 Berg’s Lulu

Starring Marlis Petersen, Susan Graham, Daniel Brenna, Paul Groves, Johan Reuter, and Franz Grundheber, conducted by Lothar Koenigs. From November 21, 2015.

Four hours long! About the opera and the music see review here.

The opera (and "landmark production") you've got to say you've seen! So if you missed it in September, now’s your chance. An extraordinarily imaginative production from artist William Kentridge (who also did The Nose for the Met).

‘Sex, art and murder create a landmark night for the Met,’ announced here the Guardian Review. Met interview with Kentridge here .

Saturday, November 14

Britten’s Peter Grimes Starring Patricia Racette, Anthony Dean Griffey, and Anthony Michaels-Moore, conducted by Donald Runnicles. From March 15, 2008.

This production also is unjolly but brilliant (and also screened Sept). Arguably Britten’s best for music about humankind and imagery. ‘ The cinematographic qualities of Britten’s music are brought out with great skill by the orchestra under veteran Scottish conductor Ronald Runnicles.’ (Bachtrack review here.)


Sunday, November 15 Philip Glass’s Akhnaten

Starring Anthony Roth Costanzo, conducted by Karen Kamensek. 2019.

They gave us Glass Monday, November 1 with Satyagraha. Now here is the earlier and better known Met production of his opera about power and love, with an amazing performance by Anthony Roth Costanzo. He talks about the role here. And here’s his hymn to the Sun.

A reflection about that love-it-or-hate-it music - Observer review here; NYTimes here. We had a week dominated by Glass back in June; perhaps then we were more in locked down mode and prepared to tackle the challenges? This performance was much praised and much enjoyed by (some of) our group! Information & reviews in our post - here.


Monday, November 16 Thomas Adès’s The Exterminating Angel Starring Audrey Luna, Amanda Echalaz, Sally Matthews, Sophie Bevan, Alice Coote, Christine Rice, Iestyn Davies, Joseph Kaiser, Frédéric Antoun, David Portillo, David Adam Moore, Rod Gilfry, Kevin Burdette, Christian Van Horn, and John Tomlinson, conducted by Thomas Adès. From November 18, 2017.

It screened way back at the start of June, when I wrote on the blog, 'Stir crazy in our isolated times? Here’s a dinner party of smart people cut off from the social rules that sustain them, reverting to barbarism.' Well, now you know - revisit now with real experience!

Adès describes it, “It’s about the end of the world. It’s a catastrophe.” It’s a brilliant opera with brilliant music; splendid review in New Yorker here. Opera Today of the Covent Garden performance here. And a Guardian review here of how he turned the film from Spanish director Luis Buñuel into an opera that’s riveting for Adès music as well as the horror story whose ending you don’t know.

Fun fact: The role of Leticia required soprano Audrey Luna (she sang the amazing Ariel in Adès' The Tempest) to sing an A above high C, which is the highest documented sung note in the history of the Metropolitan Opera.


Lyn, October 29th, 2020

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