The Metropolitan Opera: Idomeneo

Verdi’s IL TROVATORE again storms the Met stage in a star-studded, anvil-wielding cast , including Sondra Radvanovsky, Dolora Zajick and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. Marcelo Álvarez sings Manrico, the troubadour of the title. The story is well-known already: The gypsy Azucena has harbored a grudge for thirty years, but she is about to have revenge at last. Meanwhile, her son Manrico is in love with Leonora, but so is his arch-enemy, the Count Di Luna. A pot-boiler, where every tune is a hit.

Rossini’s charming take on the Cinderella story features a brilliant cast, led by bel canto stars Joyce DiDonato in the title role and Juan Diego Flórez as her Prince Charming. Alessandro Corbelli delivers a comic tour de force as Don Magnifico, Cinderella’s stepfather. Pietro Spagnoli is Dandini, the Prince’s valet, who, disguised as his master, puts the prospective brides to the text, and Luca Pisaroni is the philosopher Alidoro, who takes the place of the fairy godmother. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi leads Cesare Lievi’s whimsical production.

Shakespeare’s lovers never looked and sounded as good as in this romantic film adaptation of Charles Gounod’s beloved opera “Roméo et Juliette”, starring one of classical music’s most popular and successful couples, Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu. A spectacular medieval castle and its surrounding countryside provide the breathtaking setting for this timeless tale of warring families and star-crossed lovers. Conductor Anton Guadagno leads the Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra through the opera’s beautiful arias and duets in this fresh interpretation of Gounod’s masterwork.

A collection of vignettes highlighting different aspects of the life, work, and character of the acclaimed Canadian classical pianist.

In Depression-era Winnipeg, a legless beer baroness hosts a contest for the saddest music in the world, offering a grand prize of $25,000.

When a sudden plague of blindness devastates a city, a small group of the afflicted band together to triumphantly overcome the horrific conditions of their imposed quarantine.

The film explores the relationships that a limousine driver, a doctor, and a real estate agent have amongst each other and with Yo-Yo Ma as he travels to Canada to perform Bach's Cello Suites.

American gunslinger Sean Rafferty—aka The Montana Kid—is unable to find someone to duel in a Canadian town where no one understands the brutal code of the American Wild West.

On the invitation of her childhood best friend Patsy McCann née Willets, famed opera singer Francesca Prine - whose real name is Marie Beck - returns to Marmora, Ontario to sing in a benefit concert. Patsy and Marie were best friends from the time Marie and her family arrived in Marmora when she was ten years old to the time she left Marmora at age fifteen, which was thirty years prior. With the exception of Don Rayford on who Marie had a crush, Patsy was shy Marie's only friend in Marmora. However, Marie and Patsy have not been in touch since due to issues that drove Marie out of town at the time. Those issues include Marie being physically abused by her alcoholic mother, but most specifically what happened the evening of the Sadie Hawkins dance - where Don accompanied Marie - and post dance down by the railroad tracks. Marie and Patsy's reunion may not be able to endure the thirty years of silence and the events of that night.

A rarely performed bel canto gem, Rossini’s Semiramide returned to the Met for the first time in nearly 25 years during the 2017–18 season. Set in ancient Babylon under the reign of the mythic Queen Semiramis, the opera features political scheming, mistaken identity, divine intervention, and bloodthirsty revenge—not to mention one virtuosic vocal display after another. Soprano Angela Meade is the fierce title monarch, whose quest for power comes to a halt with the discovery that the object of her affection, the warrior Arsace—sung by mezzo-soprano Elizabeth DeShong—may actually be her long-lost son. Together, the two square off in a pair of dazzling duets and deliver some of the opera’s most challenging arias. Bel canto specialist Maurizio Benini takes the podium to lead a cast that also stars tenor Javier Camarena as the ardent prince Idreno, bass Ildar Abdrazakov as the scheming Assur, and bass Ryan Speedo Green as the stern high priest Oroe.

Berlioz’s epic masterpiece retells the magnificent saga of the aftermath of the Trojan War and the exploits of Aeneas. Rising tenor Bryan Hymel, in his Met debut, stars as the hero charged by the gods with the founding of the city of Rome. Susan Graham is Dido, Queen of Carthage, who becomes Aeneas’s lover, and Deborah Voigt sings Cassandra, the Trojan princess whose warnings about the impending destruction of Troy go unheeded. Francesca Zambello’s atmospheric production, featuring choreography by Doug Varone, is led by Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi.

Against the backdrop of the Hanging Gardens, Semiramide, Queen of Babylon, defies bad omens and supernatural threats in her quest to find a worthy successor to her late husband. But she harbours more than one dark secret, and whoever gains the throne may find that he has lost more than he has won. Based on a story by Voltaire, this rarely performed tragic opera reveals 'The Barber of Seville' composer Giaochino Rossini in a whole new light. The title role—composed for Rossini’s wife, Isabella Colbran—features some of the most demanding vocal music he ever wrote. Angela Meade takes on the challenging vocal fireworks in this revival of a production last seen at the Met 25 years ago.

'Zivjeli - To Life' is a film documenting a tour to Yugoslavia by a group of Canada's most distinguished dancers and musicians including the Soundstage Canada '81 performances at the Zagreb Biennale. Produced in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, TVOntario, and the National Film Board of Canada.

Rising Met star Angela Meade is Elvira, the young woman caught between three men: her lover, the nobleman-turned-outlaw Ernani (Marcello Giordani); her guardian, the rich, elderly de Silva, who wants her for himself (Ferruccio Furlanetto); and Don Carlo, the King of Spain, who also desires Elvira (Dmitri Hvorostovsky). Verdi’s early drama is full of sweeping melody and rousing rhythms, delivered masterfully by the Met Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Marco Armiliato.

This production of Strauss’s most sumptuous work by director Nathaniel Merrill and designer Robert O’Hearn is almost as beloved as the opera itself. It perfectly captures the glittering never-land of rococco Vienna the way the Viennese—and the rest of the world—wish it had been, and it’s the ideal setting for an adult comedy of love and errors. Susan Graham is the aristocratic young Octavian, torn between two women: Renée Fleming as the Marschallin, the mature woman who understands that one day Octavian must leave her; and Christine Schäfer as Sophie, the young girl who unexpectedly captures his heart. Kristinn Sigmundsson is the lecherous Baron Ochs who sets the whirling plot in motion, and Edo de Waart conducts.