The 2015-16 Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD season begins on a high note Oct. 3 with Giuseppe Verdi’s “Il Trovatore.”
This transmission begins Kona’s fifth year of receiving the satellite broadcasts direct from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City to the Makalapua Stadium Cinemas, says Kona’s Met HD Ambassador Sonia Scadden. “Il Trovatore,” famous for its Anvil Chorus, will feature the acclaimed and fiery soprano, Anna Netrebko, as Leonora, who gives her life for the love of a gypsy troubadour.
All operas, whether performed in Italian, German or French, feature subtitles in English. There are also programs available for the operas that include the story of each act.
Five HD operas will be broadcast live in Kona during the next three months, followed by six more in 2016. After “Il Trovatore,” the season will be on a Verdi roll. On Oct. 17, Verdi’s dramatic “Otello” will be performed, featuring Aleksandrs Antonenko as the heroic but overly suspicious general, whose innocent wife, Desdemona, is sung by the new star, Sonya Yoncheva. “Otello” is based on Shakespeare’s play “Othello.“
On Oct. 31, Johan Botha is the courageous but susceptible knight with Michelle Deyoung as Venus, goddess of love, in Richard Wagner’s “Tannhauser.” Soprano Marlis Peterson takes attendees on “a wild journey of love, obsession, and death” in Alban Berg‘s acclaimed “Lulu” on Nov. 21.
Then, in a traditional seasonal performance, whose magic may entrance the whole family, from keiki to kupuna, the glorious Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart opera, “The Magic Flute,” will be presented on Dec. 12.
In 2016, performances begin with Bizet’s haunting “Les Pecheurs de Perles” on Jan. 16, and continue with a Giacomo Puccini extravaganza. Puccini’s legendary Chinese princess is sung by Nina Stemme as “Turandot” on Jan. 30, Kristine Opolais and acclaimed tenor Jonas Kaufmann are the leads in “Manon Lescaut” on March 5. On April 2 is “Madama Butterfly.”
The season’s grand finales are Donizetti’s “Robert Devereux” on April 16 and Richard Strauss’s brooding, lit-by-lightning “Elektra” on April 30.
Each opera is shown twice, on a Saturday afternoon (noon or 12:55 p.m. start) and the following Wednesday night at 7 p.m. Tickets are available now for the entire season from the Makalapua box office or electronically from metopera.org/HDlive.
For more information, contact Sonia Scadden at 329-7133.