In San Francisco, the Ring Cycle continues free livestreaming. See our separate blogpost on this cycle.
Screening (our time) Sunday 21st March - Monday 22nd is Siegfried.
Here's Limelight's detailed review of the production. And here's Bachtrack's.
SFOpera information, photos, videos here. Will our pure hero save the despoiled world?
At the Met, there's a wild collection for Week 53 - termed "Viewers’ Choice" Dates are for Melbourne.
It includes several special performances. For fans of Joyce DiDonato these include her Rosina in Barber of Seville and her extraordinary Agrippina. For a treat, listen to her in this Euronews recording.
But first - a rivetting Tales of Hoffmann.
Tuesday, March 16 Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann It's a formidable production. Starring Anna Netrebko, Kathleen Kim, Ekaterina Gubanova, Kate Lindsey, Joseph Calleja, and Alan Held, conducted by James Levine. Production by Bartlett Sher. From December 19, 2009. Review here from NYTimes.
Mezzo Kate Lindsay is brilliant as the mysterious Nicklausse, Hoffmann's sidekick. (See her in a totally different androgynous role as the son of Agrippina on Monday! Interview with her here.
NYTimes offers a very thoughtful review here. And here's Netrebko singing about the turtledove. Yes, you know the Barcarole - listen here to Anna Netrebko & Elīna Garanča.
Wednesday, March 17 Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West Starring Eva-Maria Westbroek, Jonas Kaufmann, and Željko Lučić, conducted by Marco Armiliato. Production by Giancarlo Del Monaco. From October 27, 2018.
Thursday, March 18 Donizetti’s Anna Bolena Starring Anna Netrebko, Ekaterina Gubanova, Tamara Mumford, Stephen Costello, and Ildar Abdrazakov, conducted by Marco Armiliato. Production by Sir David McVicar. From October 15, 2011.
For some, the most brilliant of Donizetti's Tudor Queens, a trilogy of his most magnificent historical works. Click here for detailed account of these operas, and the production screening, in our earlier blog post. It's a much praised performance from Netrebko.
Friday, March 19 Philip Glass’s Akhnaten Starring Dísella Lárusdóttir, J’Nai Bridges, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Aaron Blake, Will Liverman, Richard Bernstein, and Zachary James, conducted by Karen Kamensek. Production by Phelim McDermott. From November 23, 2019.
This is your third chance to see the praised production of Glass's most admired opera. Our blog post on the production is here.
Saturday, March 20 Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia Starring Joyce DiDonato, Juan Diego Flórez, Peter Mattei, John Del Carlo, and John Relyea, conducted by Maurizio Benini. Production by Bartlett Sher. From March 24, 2007.
The Barber of Seville is more than a baritone patter song - though this is a pretty good one. Click here for our notes on the opera and an earlier brilliant production we viewed.
Earlier versions screened recently, and in a past meeting we viewed the classic movie version with Hermann Prey. This 2007 Met production stars Joyce DiDonato and Juan Diego Flórez, who took their Count and Rosina partnership around the big opera houses. And Figaro? Top baritone Peter Mattei is Figaro – listen here to that patter song, his "Largo al factotum".
A truly wonderful cast for a wonderful comedy. Juan Diego Florez is an apparently sensational Almaviva and Joyce DiDonato brilliant as Rosina. Here’s her falling-in-love aria. Watch here the Rossini-superb Act I finale and see if you can resist watching the whole.
Sunday, March 21 Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin Starring Renée Fleming, Ramón Vargas, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, conducted by Valery Gergiev. Production by Robert Carsen. From February 24, 2007.
Monday, March 22 Handel’s Agrippina Starring Brenda Rae, Joyce DiDonato, Kate Lindsey, Iestyn Davies, Duncan Rock, and Matthew Rose, conducted by Harry Bicket. Production by Sir David McVicar. From February 29, 2020.
It's an amazing opera and she is brilliant - that sums it up. Here's our blog post when it screened last year. Great intro to the opera here from the star. And here are Kate Lindsey and Joyce DiDonato having fun.