The Metropolitan Opera, amid a continued shutdown, enters its second year of offering free streams this week. A new lineup of viewers’ choice fan favorites includes Philip Glass’ Akhnaten, Renée Fleming and Dmitri Hvorostovsky in Eugene Onegin, Il Barbiere dii Siviglia with bel canto favorites, and one of the Met’s newest productions: Agrippina.
The New York company began streaming free performances from its Live in HD catalog and archives March 16, 2020, in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, weeks have celebrated various artists, themes, and subgenres of the artform.
The free streams are available starting at 7:30 PM ET each night at MetOpera.org for 23 hours each. Check out this week's complete schedule below.
March 15: Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann
Starring Anna Netrebko, Kathleen Kim, Ekaterina Gubanova, Kate Lindsey, Joseph Calleja, and Alan Held, conducted by James Levine. Production by Bartlett Sher. Originally broadcast December 19, 2009.
March 16: Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West
Starring Eva-Maria Westbroek, Jonas Kaufmann, and Željko Lučić, conducted by Marco Armiliato. Production by Giancarlo Del Monaco. Originally broadcast October 27, 2018.
March 17: 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. Originally broadcast October 15, 2011.
March 18: 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. Originally broadcast November 23, 2019.
March 19: 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. Originally broadcast March 24, 2007.
March 20: Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin
Starring Renée Fleming, Ramón Vargas, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, conducted by Valery Gergiev. Production by Robert Carsen. Originally broadcast February 24, 2007.
March 21: 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. Originally broadcast February 29, 2020.