Three performances transmitted live this Fall
The Greenbrier Valley Theatre (GVT) will present three performances transmitted live from the Met stage in New York City. The first performance is Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann on Oct. 5, followed by Jeanine Tesori’s Grounded on Oct. 20, and the third is Puccini’s Tosca on Nov. 23. All performances are at 1 p.m.
The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera’s award- winning series of live high-definition cinema simulcasts is in its 18th season.
The Oct. 5 showing features Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann, which stars acclaimed tenor Benjamin Bernheim in the title role of the tormented poet, alongside sopranos Erin Morley and Pretty Yende and mezzo-soprano Clémentine Margaine.
Offenbach’s fantastical opera kicks off the Metropolitan Opera’s season of Live in HD performance transmissions, starring French tenor Benjamin Bernheim in the title role of the tormented poet. Joining Bernheim is American soprano Erin Morley as Olympia, South African soprano Pretty Yende as Antonia, and French mezzo-soprano Clementine Margaine as Giulietta to complete Hoffmann’s trio of lovers. Marco Armiliato conducts Bartlett Sher’s evocative production, which also features American bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as the Four Villians and Russian mezzo-soprano Vasilisa Berzhanskaya in her company debut as Nicklausse.
The Oct. 20 showing features the Met premiere and live transmission of Jeanine Tesori’s new opera Grounded, starring mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo; new stagings of Strauss’s Salome by director Claus Guth, with a cast led by soprano Elza van den Heever and baritone Peter Mattei, and Verdi’s Aida, with soprano Angel Blue and tenor Piotr Beczała, directed by Michael Mayer.
Tony Award-winning composer Jeanine Tesori’s powerful new opera Grounded premieres at the Metropolitan Opera, wrestling with often-overlooked issues created by 21st-century warmaking: the ethical conflicts created by the use of modern military technology and the psychological and emotional toll supposedly safe remote technology takes on our servicepersons. Canadian mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo stars as the hot-shot fighter pilot whose unplanned pregnancy takes her out of the cockpit and lands her in Las Vegas, operating a Reaper drone halfway around the world. American tenor Ben Bliss costars as the Wyoming rancher Eric in a production by Michael Mayer that brings this story to life in a high-tech staging which presents a variety of perspectives on the action. Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes the podium to conduct Tesori’s kaleidoscopic opera, which will be transmitted live from the Met stage to cinemas on Oct. 19.
The Nov. 23 showing features the first-ever Met Live in HD transmission of Puccini’s Tosca, featuring soprano Lise Davidsen as she continues to explore the full range of Italian and German dramatic repertoire.
Extraordinary Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen stars as the passionate title diva in David McVicar’s thrilling production, transmitted live from the Metropolitan Opera stage to cinemas on Nov. 23. British-Italian tenor Freddie De Tommaso makes his eagerly anticipated company debut as Tosca’s revolutionary lover, Cavaradossi, and powerhouse American baritone Quinn Kelsey is the sadistic chief of police Scarpia. Maestro Xian Zhang conducts the electrifying score, which features some of Puccini’s most memorable melodies.
“From its beginnings, The Met: Live in HD was created to connect the Met to a global audience,” says Peter Gelb, the Met’s Maria Manetti Shrem General Manager. “We’re glad to see audiences around the world beginning to return to cinemas in larger numbers since the end of the pandemic.”
Purchase a season subscription to this series or tickets for individual events at https://www.gvtheatre.org/opera.