In November this year, the 2014/15 season from The Metropolitan Opera in New York returns to South Africa with the launch of the next season of The Met: Live in HD. The ten full-length operas, including five new productions, will release exclusively at Cinema Nouveau and select Ster-Kinekor theatres countrywide from November 2014 to May 2015.
With these exclusive productions, Cinema Nouveau gives local audiences the opportunity to witness these “live’ broadcasts on the big screen, in full digital projection.
On 8 November 2014, Giuseppe Verdi’s Macbeth, with star soprano Anna Netrebko as Lady Macbeth, launches the new season. The next transmission will be the Met’s new production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro) on 22 November, conducted by Met music director James Levine. Carmen, the opera from Bizet, can be seen on the big screen from 29 November and Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia can be seen from 20 December.
On 20 February 2015, Susan Stroman makes her Met debut directing a new production of Lehar’s The Merry Widow, with Renee Fleming in the title role and Andrew Davis conducting.
Two double bills of one-act operas also receive new productions this season: Iolanta, with Anna Netrebko in the title role, and Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle, conducted by Valery Gergiev and directed by Mariusz Treliński, release on 21 March 2015.
The last production of this season, releasing on 23 May 2015, sees Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, conducted by Met principal conductor Fabio Luisi and directed by David McVicar, receive its first new Met production in 45 years.
The 2014-15 season was announced by Met general manager Peter Gelb and Met music director James Levine. “With a mix of new offerings, a few repertory rarities, and solid casting of our mainstay revivals, this should prove to be a stimulating season for the Company and for our audiences,’ said Gelb.
The Met: Live in HD, the Met’s award-winning series of live transmissions to cinemas around the world, has expanded its worldwide distribution to more than 2 000 theatres in 69 countries this season, the largest global audience the initiative has ever reached. The Met was the first arts company to experiment as an alternative content provider, beginning on a modest scale in 2006. Since then, its programme has grown every season with more than 16 million tickets sold to date.
Met opera stars serve as hosts for each of the Live in HD series, conducting live interviews with cast, crew, and production teams, and introducing the popular behind-the-scenes features. Altogether the worldwide HD audience is given an unprecedented look at what goes into the staging of an opera at one of the world’s great houses.
For more information on The Met: Live in HD season visit the Cinema Nouveau website.
