FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Great Barrington, Mass.—The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center will present the Metropolitan Opera’s 15th Live in HD season starting this fall, October 9, through spring 2022, concluding June 4. The broadcast series has been a popular part of Mahaiwe programming since 2007.
Ten operas will screen from New York City’s Lincoln Center to the Mahaiwe, offering high definition, multi-camera angle views of each production from the comfort of the Southern Berkshires’ premier theater. The Mahaiwe’s state-of-the-art screening equipment provides a top-quality experience.
“Opera lovers have been eagerly awaiting this Met season, with its ground-breaking new works, and beloved favorites, telling tales both newly-relevant and timeless,” says Mahaiwe Executive Director Janis Martinson.
The new Met season begins with Modest Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov on Saturday, October 9 at 1 p.m. Bass René Pape, the world’s reigning Boris, reprises his overwhelming portrayal of the tortured tsar caught between grasping ambition and crippling paranoia. Conductor Sebastian Weigle leads Mussorgsky’s masterwork, a pillar of the Russian repertoire, in its original 1869 version. Stephen Wadsworth’s affecting production poignantly captures the hope and suffering of the Russian people as well as the tsar himself.
Grammy Award–winning jazz musician and composer Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones will screen on Saturday, October 23 at 1 p.m. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Blanchard’s adaptation of Charles M. Blow’s moving memoir, which The New York Times praised after its 2019 world premiere at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as “bold and affecting” and “subtly powerful.” The first opera by a Black composer presented on the Met stage and featuring a libretto by filmmaker Kasi Lemmons, the opera tells a poignant and profound story about a young man’s journey to overcome a life of trauma and hardship. James Robinson and Camille A. Brown—two of the creators of the Met’s sensational recent production of Porgy and Bess—co-direct this new staging. Baritone Will Liverman, one of opera’s most exciting young artists, stars as Charles, alongside sopranos Angel Blue as Destiny/Loneliness/Greta and Latonia Moore as Billie.
Brilliant American composer Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice will screen on Saturday, December 4 at 1 p.m. The ancient Greek myth of Orpheus, who attempts to harness the power of music to rescue his beloved Eurydice from the underworld, has inspired composers since opera’s earliest days. Aucoin now carries that tradition into the 21st century with a captivating new take on the story—a product of the Met’s commissioning program. With a libretto by Sarah Ruhl, adapted from her acclaimed 2003 play, the opera reimagines the familiar tale from Eurydice’s point of view. Yannick Nézet-Séguin oversees the transmission, leading Aucoin’s evocative music and an immersive new staging by Mary Zimmerman. Soprano Erin Morley sings the title role, opposite baritone Joshua Hopkins as Orpheus and countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński as his otherworldly alter-ego. Bass-baritone Nathan Berg is Eurydice’s father and fellow resident of the underworld, with tenor Barry Banks as Hades himself.
Jules Massenet’s Cinderella will screen on Sunday, January 2 at 1 p.m. Laurent Pelly’s storybook staging of Massenet’s Cendrillon, a hit of the 2017–18 season, is presented with an all-new English translation in an abridged 90-minute adaptation, with mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard as its rags-to-riches princess. Maestro Emmanuel Villaume leads a delightful cast, which includes mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo as Cinderella’s Prince Charming, soprano Jessica Pratt as her Fairy Godmother, and mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe and bass-baritone Laurent Naouri as her feuding guardians. This Mahaiwe screening is not offered on the Met’s live transmission date.
Bartlett Sher’s bold new take on Giuseppe Verdi’s timeless tragedy Rigoletto will screen on Saturday, January 29 at 1 p.m. The Tony Award–winning director resets the opera’s action in 1920s Europe, with Art Deco sets by Michael Yeargan and elegant costumes by Catherine Zuber, themselves boasting a combined 11 Tony Awards. Baritone Quinn Kelsey, a commanding artist at the height of his powers, brings his searing portrayal of the title role to the Met for the first time, starring alongside soprano Rosa Feola as Gilda and tenor Piotr Beczała as the Duke of Mantua, with leading maestro Daniele Rustioni on the podium.
Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos will screen on Saturday, March 19 at 1 p.m. The exhilarating soprano Lise Davidsen makes her Live in HD debut in one of her signature roles, the mythological Greek heroine of Strauss’s enchanting masterpiece. The outstanding cast for this broadcast also features mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard as the Composer of the opera-within-an-opera around which the plot revolves, with soprano Brenda Rae as the spirited Zerbinetta and tenor Brandon Jovanovich as Ariadne’s lover, the god Bacchus. Marek Janowski conducts. This Mahaiwe screening is not offered on the Met’s live transmission date.
Giuseppe Verdi’s Don Carlos will screen on Saturday, March 26 at 12 p.m. For the first time in company history, the Met presents the original five-act French version of Verdi’s epic opera of doomed love among royalty, set against the backdrop of the Spanish Inquisition. Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads a world-beating cast of opera’s leading lights in this performance, including tenor Matthew Polenzani in the title role, soprano Sonya Yoncheva as Élisabeth de Valois, and mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča as Eboli. Bass-baritones Eric Owens and John Relyea are Philippe II and the Grand Inquisitor, and baritone Étienne Dupuis rounds out the all-star principal cast as Rodrigue. Verdi’s masterpiece receives a monumental new staging by David McVicar that marks his 11th Met production, placing him among the most prolific and popular directors in recent Met memory.
Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot will screen on Saturday, May 7 at 1 p.m. Superstar Anna Netrebko makes her long-awaited Met role debut as Puccini’s icy princess. Tenor Yonghoon Lee is the bold prince determined to win Turandot’s love, alongside soprano Ermonela Jaho as the devoted servant Liù legendary bass Ferruccio Furlanetto as the blind king Timur. Marco Armiliato conducts Puccini’s stirring score.
Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor will screen on Saturday, May 21 at 1 p.m. Soprano Nadine Sierra takes on one of the repertory’s most formidable and storied roles, the haunted heroine of Lucia di Lammermoor, in an electrifying new staging by in-demand Australian theater and film director Simon Stone, conducted by Riccardo Frizza. Show-stopping tenor Javier Camarena adds to the bel canto fireworks as Lucia’s beloved, Edgardo, with baritone Artur Ruciński as her overbearing brother, Enrico, and bass Matthew Rose as her tutor, Raimondo.
The Met’s new season will conclude with Australian composer Brett Dean’s Hamlet on Saturday, June 4 at 1 p.m. When Dean’s Hamlet had its world premiere at the Glyndebourne Festival in 2017, The Guardian declared, “New opera doesn’t often get to sound this good … Shakespeare offers a gauntlet to composers that shouldn’t always be picked up, but Dean’s Hamlet rises to the challenge.” This riveting contemporary masterpiece boasts Neil Armfield, who directed the work’s premiere, bringing his acclaimed staging to the Met stage. Many of the original cast members have followed, including tenor Allan Clayton in the title role. Nicholas Carter makes his Met debut conducting a remarkable ensemble, which also features soprano Brenda Rae as Ophelia, mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly as Gertrude, baritone Rod Gilfry as Claudius, and legendary bass John Tomlinson as the ghost of Hamlet’s father.
Tickets go on sale to Mahaiwe Bravo Circle and Met Opera Members on Friday, September 17 at 12 p.m.; Mahaiwe Members on Wednesday, September 22 at 12 p.m.; and the public on Friday, September 24 at 12 p.m.
Tickets are $25 each or $10 for ages 21 and under and must be purchased in advance via mahaiwe.org or 413-528-0100 during Box Office hours, Wednesday through Saturday from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Events are masked, and proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 test result will be required upon admission; see mahaiwe.org/update for more information on the Mahaiwe’s safety guidelines.
Mahaiwe’s Met Opera lecturer Scott Eyerly will again offer talks corresponding with each production. Check mahaiwe.org for updates.
The Met: Live in HD series is made possible by a generous grant from its founding sponsor, the Neubauer Family Foundation. Digital support of The Met: Live in HD is provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies. The Met: Live in HD series is supported by Rolex. The HD Broadcasts are supported by Toll Brothers, America’s luxury home builder.
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 22,000 students from 73 different schools have benefited from the Mahaiwe’s school-time performances and residencies. For more information, see mahaiwe.org.
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