FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Great Barrington, Mass.—The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center will present the Metropolitan Opera’s new Live in HD series for the 2024-25 season, October 6 through May 31.
The new season features classics by Offenbach, Puccini, Verdi, Beethoven, Mozart, Strauss, and Rossini, as well as a new work from contemporary composer Jeanine Tesori.
The Mahaiwe’s state-of-the-art audio and visual equipment delivers this celebrated broadcast series from Lincoln Center to the Berkshires.
“We are once again delighted to bring high quality opera to audiences right here in Great Barrington,” says Mahaiwe Executive Director Janis Martinson. “Since 2007, the Mahaiwe has taken pride in offering the Metropolitan Opera’s programming through this accessible medium. With our sophisticated screening technology and the Met’s multi-camera delivery, enthusiasts and newcomers alike experience the opera intimately and with unmatched clarity.”
Screenings
The season will open with Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann on Sunday, October 6 at 1 p.m. This screening is an encore per Mahaiwe scheduling. Offenbach’s fantastical opera stars French tenor Benjamin Bernheim in the title role of the tormented poet. Joining Bernheim is American soprano Erin Morley as Olympia, South African soprano Pretty Yende as Antonia, and French mezzo-soprano Clémentine Margaine as Giulietta to complete Hoffmann’s trio of lovers. Marco Armiliato conducts Bartlett Sher’s evocative production, which also features American bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as the Four Villains and Russian mezzo-soprano Vasilisa Berzhanskaya in her company debut as Nicklausse.
The Mahaiwe will screen Jeanine Tesori’s Grounded on Saturday, October 19 at 1 p.m. Tony Award–winning composer Jeanine Tesori’s powerful new opera Grounded premieres at the Metropolitan Opera, wrestling with often-overlooked issues created by 21st-century warmaking: the ethical conflicts created by the use of modern military technology and the psychological and emotional toll supposedly safe remote technology takes on our servicepersons. Canadian mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo stars as the hot-shot fighter pilot whose unplanned pregnancy takes her out of the cockpit and lands her in Las Vegas, operating a Reaper drone halfway around the world. American tenor Ben Bliss costars as the Wyoming rancher Eric in a production by Michael Mayer that brings this story to life in a high-tech staging which presents a variety of perspectives on the action. Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes the podium to conduct Tesori’s kaleidoscopic opera.
The theater will screen Puccini’s Tosca on Sunday, November 24 at 1 p.m. This screening is an encore per Mahaiwe scheduling. Extraordinary Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen stars as the passionate title diva in David McVicar’s thrilling production. British-Italian tenor Freddie De Tommaso makes his eagerly anticipated company debut as Tosca’s revolutionary lover, Cavaradossi, and powerhouse American baritone Quinn Kelsey is the sadistic chief of police Scarpia. Maestro Xian Zhang conducts the electrifying score, which features some of Puccini’s most memorable melodies.
The theater will screen Verdi’s Aida on Saturday, January 25 at 12:30 p.m. American soprano Angel Blue headlines as the Ethiopian princess torn between love and country in a new production of Verdi’s Aida by Michael Mayer that brings audiences inside the towering pyramids and gilded tombs of ancient Egypt with intricate projections and dazzling animations. Romanian-Hungarian mezzo-soprano Judit Kutasi also stars as Aida’s rival, Amneris, alongside Polish tenor Piotr Beczała as the soldier Radamès—completing opera’s greatest love triangle. Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes the podium to conduct the performance.
The theater will screen Beethoven’s Fidelio on Saturday, March 15 at 1 p.m. Following a string of awe-inspiring Live in HD performances, Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen returns to the Metropolitan Opera as Leonore, the faithful wife who risks everything to save her husband from the clutches of tyranny in Beethoven’s Fidelio. Completing the distinguished cast is British tenor David Butt Philip as the political prisoner Florestan, Polish bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny as the villainous Don Pizarro, veteran German bass René Pape as the jailer Rocco, Chinese soprano Ying Fang and German tenor Magnus Dietrich as the young Marzelline and Jaquino, and Danish bass Stephen Milling as the principled Don Fernando. Susanna Mälkki conducts the performance.
The theater will screen Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro on Saturday, April 26 at 1 p.m. Conductor Joana Mallwitz, in her Met debut, takes the podium to conduct a stellar ensemble cast including American bass-baritone Michael Sumuel as the clever valet Figaro, Ukrainian soprano Olga Kulchynska as the wily maid Susanna, Canadian baritone Joshua Hopkins as the skirt-chasing Count, Italian soprano Federica Lombardi as his anguished wife, and French mezzo-soprano Marianne Crebassa as the adolescent page Cherubino.
The Mahaiwe will screen Strauss’ Salome on Saturday, May 17 at 1 p.m. Leading the company’s first new production of the work in 20 years, Claus Guth, one of Europe’s leading opera directors, gives the biblical story a psychologically perceptive Victorian-era setting. South African soprano Elza van den Heever leads a celebrated cast as the abused and unhinged antiheroine, with Swedish baritone Peter Mattei as the imprisoned prophet Jochanaan; German tenor Gerhard Siegel as Salome’s lecherous stepfather, King Herod; American mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung as his wife, Herodias; and Polish tenor Piotr Buszewski as Narraboth.
The season will conclude with Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia on Saturday, May 31 at 1 p.m. Russian mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina headlines a winning ensemble as the feisty heroine, Rosina, alongside American tenor Jack Swanson, in his Met debut, as her secret beloved, Count Almaviva. Moldovan baritone Andrey Zhilikhovsky stars as Figaro, the ingenious barber of Seville, with Hungarian bass baritone Peter Kálmán as Dr. Bartolo and Russian bass Alexander Vinogradov as Don Basilio rounding out the principal cast. Giacomo Sagripanti conducts Bartlett Sher’s madcap production.
Tickets
Tickets go on sale to Met Members and Mahaiwe Bravo Circle Members on Thursday, July 18 at noon; to Mahaiwe Members on Saturday, July 20 at noon; and to the public on Wednesday, July 24 at noon.
Tickets are $25 or $10 ages 21 and under. Tickets can be purchased online at mahaiwe.org, or by calling or visiting the Box Office, 413-528-0100, on Wednesday through Saturday from noon to 4 p.m.
The Mahaiwe accepts ConnectorCare/WIC/EBT cards — four free tickets to movies or HD broadcasts per individual. Learn more at mahaiwe.org/visit/ticketing-offers.
Summer Encores
This summer, the Mahaiwe is also screening three encore broadcasts of Met favorites, Wednesdays at 1 p.m: Rossini’s La Cenerentola on July 31, Puccini’s Turandot on August 7, and the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess on August 14. Tickets are on sale now.
About the Mahaiwe
Located in downtown Great Barrington, Mass., the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center is the year-round presenter of world-class music, dance, theater, classic films, Live in HD broadcasts, and arts education programs for the southern Berkshires and neighboring regions. The intimate jewel box of a theater opened in 1905. Since 2005, the performing arts center has hosted over 1,500 events and welcomed over half a million people through its doors. More than 26,000 students from 75 different schools have benefited from the Mahaiwe’s school-time performances and residencies. For more information, see mahaiwe.org.
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