TV season
2016-01-11
Episode 1
2016-01-11 • 180 min
Soprano Anna Netrebko appears in her Met role debut as Leonora, the tortured heroine who sacrifices her own life for the love of the Gypsy troubadour. Dmitri Hvorostovsky sings Count di Luna, Yonghoon Lee is Manrico in his Met role debut as the title character, Dolora Zajick sings her signature role of the gypsy Azucena, and Štefan Kocán is Ferrando. Marco Armiliato conducts Sir David McVicar’s Goya-inspired production.
Episode 2
2016-02-21 • 180 min
For this production of Verdi's tragic opera, Aleksandrs Antonenko, one of the world’s leading interpreters of Otello, sings his first Met performances of the role, opposite Sonya Yoncheva as Desdemona and Željko Lučić as the villainous Iago.
Episode 3
2016-03-13 • 180 min
Richard Wagner’s early masterpiece Tannhäuser comes to Great Performances at the Met for the first time. James Levine conducts Tannhäuser in Otto Schenk's classic production, with Johan Botha in his Met role debut in the titular role. Eva-Maria Westbroek, Michelle DeYoung, Peter Mattei, and Gunther Groissbock. It is the production’s first Met revival in more than a decade.
Episode 4
2016-04-10 • 180 min
Alban Berg’s tragedy of a sexually irresistible woman who destroys the lives of everyone around her. Marlis Petersen stars and visual artist William Kentridge directs.
Episode 5
2016-05-22 • 180 min
The Met’s acclaimed new production of Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers (Les Pêcheurs de Perles), a rarity by the composer of Carmen that has not been staged by the company in a century.
Episode 6
2016-06-12 • 180 min
Hear Swedish soprano Nina Stemme sing the demanding title role of Puccini’s Chinese ice princess, with Anita Hartig as the angelic slave girl Liù and Marco Berti as Calàf. Paolo Carignani conducts Franco Zeffirelli’s spectacular 1987 production.
Episode 7
2016-08-13 • 180 min
Hear Kristine Opolais and Roberto Alagna as the ill-fated lovers in Puccini’s passionate adaptation of the classic novel about a free-spirited country girl. Sir Richard Eyre’s new production, conducted by Fabio Luisi, is set in the 1940s.
Episode 8
2016-08-19 • 180 min
Kristine Opolais brings her heartbreaking interpretation of the title role to the series for the first time. Roberto Alagna sings Lieutenant Pinkerton, the callous officer who crushes Butterfly's dreams of love. Debuting conductor Karel Mark Chichon leads a cast that includes Maria Zifchak as Suzuki and Dwayne Croft as Sharpless.
Episode 9
2016-08-28 • 180 min
The last opera in Donizetti’s Tudor trilogy, directed by Sir David McVicar, stars Sondra Radvanovsky as Elizabeth I and features Matthew Polenzani, Elina Garanca and Mariusz Kwiecien. Maurizio Benini conducts.
Episode 10
2016-09-18 • 180 min
Elektra, Richard Strauss’s blazing tragedy about an ancient Greek princess hell-bent on revenge, is the final opera production by the legendary director Patrice Chéreau who died in 2013. Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts an extraordinary cast headed by Nina Stemme as the obsessed and bloodthirsty title character.
