“The Met: Live in HD,” the Metropolitan Opera’s award-winning series of live high-definition cinema simulcasts, begins its 17th season with a live transmission of Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, a Met premiere in a new production by Ivo van Hove, starring mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato as Sister Helen Prejean, at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 21, at the Leura Hill Eastman Performing Arts Center on the campus of Fryeburg Academy.
The 2023–24 Live in HD season features two additional company premieres, Anthony Davis’s “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X” and Daniel Catán’s “Florencia en el Amazonas,” the company’s first opera in Spanish in nearly a century; new productions of Bizet’s “Carmen” and Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino”; and revivals of Verdi’s “Nabucco,” Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette,” Puccini’s “La Rondine,” and Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly.”
“Live in HD” audiences will have the opportunity to watch the major Met-debut performance of Jonathan Tetelman as Ruggero in “La Rondine,” as well as performances by returning Met stars: soprano Lise Davidsen as Leonora in a new production of “La Forza del Destino”; soprano Angel Blue as Magda in “La Rondine” and Micaëla in “Carmen,” alongside mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina in the title role and tenor Piotr Beczała as Don José; and soprano Nadine Sierra and tenor Benjamin Bernheim as the star-crossed lovers of “Roméo et Juliette.” Bernheim will also be making his first Live in HD appearance in “Roméo et Juliette.”
“What began as an experiment 17 years ago has become a staple experience for opera lovers all over the world,” said Peter Gelb, the Met’s Maria Manetti Shrem General Manager. “Our 2023–24 season in cinemas reflects how opera is changing at the Met, where we’re balancing timeless classics with accessible new work that is advancing the art form and attracting younger and more diverse audiences.”
Live in HD tickets are $30 for adults, $28 for seniors (65+), and $10 for students. Purchase tickets online at fryeburgacademy.org/pac, or call the box office at 207-544-9066. The LHE/PAC is located on the campus of Fryeburg Academy at 18 Bradley St., Fryeburg.
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