Opera Catalog

Composer: Gaetano Donizetti
Librettist: Salvatore Cammarano

Armiliato; Netrebko, Beczala, Kwiecien, Abdrazakov

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 22 min.

Star soprano Anna Netrebko adds Donizetti’s hapless heroine to her growing list of Met triumphs in this production by Mary Zimmerman that updates the events to the 19th century. Rising young tenor sensation Piotr Beczala is Edgardo and Mariusz Kwiecien plays Lucia’s brother Enrico whose brutal authority forces her to deny her heart and marry for the sake of her family. The famous mad scene brilliantly depicts the cascading fragments of Lucia’s disintegrating mind.

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Librettist: Salvadore Cammarano

Levine; Scotto, Domingo, Milnes, Giaiotti, Morris

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 27 min.

Renata Scotto is the innocent Luisa, very much in love with Rodolfo (Plácido Domingo in one of his best roles). But he turns out to be the son of the Count Walter (Bonaldo Giaiotti), who has other plans for his aristocratic boy. Enter the evil Wurm (James Morris) whose blackmail eventually backfires, destroying the young lovers despite everything Luisa's father (Sherrill Milnes in a superb performance) does to protect her. James Levine's affectionate conducting and director Nathaniel Merrill's production help make this a performance to treasure.

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Librettist: Francesco Maria Piave and Andrea Maffei

Levine; Guleghina, Pittas, Lucic, Relyea

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 35 min.

Esteemed Shakespearean director Adrian Noble focuses on the timeless and universal themes embraced by Verdi. This atmospheric production, starring Željko Lučić and Maria Guleghina, highlights the ferocious royal couple’s erotic connection as the lynchpin of their ruthlessness. James Levine presides over a powerful performance that features some of Verdi’s most stirring choral writing.

Composer: Giacomo Puccini
Librettist: Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa

Summers; Racette, Giordani, Zifchak, Croft

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Chorus and Ballet

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 26 min.

Anthony Minghella’s stunning production of Puccini’s opera opened the Met’s 2006–07 season and was seen by thousands of people around the world as part of the company’s Live in HD series. Patricia Racette is Cio-Cio-San, the trusting and innocent young geisha of the title, who disastrously falls in love with American Navy lieutenant B. F. Pinkerton (Marcello Giordani), only to be abandoned by him. Maria Zifchak is her loyal servant Suzuki and Dwayne Croft is Sharpless, the sympathetic American consul who does all he can but is unable to avert tragedy.

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Librettist: Emanuel Schikaneder

Levine; Huang, Miklósa, Polenzani, Pape, Gunn

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 1 hrs. 52 min.

This was the groundbreaking broadcast that launched the Met’s heralded Live in HD series, seen by opera lovers in movie theaters around the world. Adults and children alike were enchanted by the whimsical humor and breathtaking puppetry of Julie Taymor’s hit production, presented in a shortened English-language version. Under the baton of Maestro James Levine, a winning ensemble cast – including Nathan Gunn, Ying Huang, Matthew Polenzani, Erika Miklosa, and René Pape – brings fresh life to Mozart's timeless fairy tale.

Composer: Giacomo Puccini
Librettist: Marco Praga, Domenico Oliva, Luigi Illica, Giuseppe Giacosa, Giulio Ricordi

Levine; Mattila, Giordani, Croft

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 26 min.

One of today’s most compelling singing actresses, Karita Mattila takes on the irresistible role of Manon Lescaut, the headstrong young woman torn between a life of luxury and the call of her true love: the Chevalier des Grieux, played by Marcello Giordani. The young Puccini lavished some of his most sensual music on this early hit, conducted here by the Met’s beloved James Levine.

Composer: Giacomo Puccini
Librettist: Marco Praga, Domenico Oliva, Luigi Illica, Giuseppe Giacosa, Giulio Ricordi

Levine; Scotto, Domingo, Elvira

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 10 min.

All the throbbing eroticism—and ultimate heartbreak—of Puccini’s youthful score is unleashed by James Levine and his top-flight cast. Plácido Domingo is Des Grieux, the handsome, headstrong young aristocrat who falls head over heels for the enticing, impetuous Manon Lescaut (Renata Scotto). Manon returns his love, but her obsession with luxury ruins them both. Gian Carlo Menotti’s opulent production, with sets and costumes by Desmond Heeley, superbly captures the colorful world of 18th century France.

Composer: Richard Wagner
Librettist: Richard Wagner

Levine; Mattila, Heppner, Polenzani, Morris, Allen, Pape

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 4 hrs. 51 min.

Wagner’s enchanting Nürnberg has perhaps never looked as marvelous as in this production by Otto Schenk, with sets designed by Günther Schneider-Siemssen. James Levine’s conducting is as authoritative as it is affectionate, and the orchestra, the chorus, and the all-star cast which could not be equaled anywhere else in the world—respond with a riveting performance. James Morris is a wise, avuncular Hans Sachs; Ben Heppner’s beautifully sung Walther is a perfect match for Karita Mattila’s radiant Eva; and René Pape and Thomas Allen turn in stellar performances.

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Librettist: Lorenzo da Ponte

Levine; Fleming, Bartoli, Mentzer, Croft, Terfel

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 3 hrs. 3 min.

The Met assembled a vocal dream team for Jonathan Miller’s stylish production of the eternal Mozart masterpiece: Renée Fleming as the Countess, Cecilia Bartoli as Susanna, and Bryn Terfel as Figaro. With James Levine—one of the world’s great conductors of Mozart—in the pit, Bartoli interpolating two rarely heard alternate arias, and Dwayne Croft as the Count and Susanne Mentzer as Cherubino, this is a performance for the record books.

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Librettist: Lorenzo da Ponte

Levine; Vaness, Battle, von Stade, Allen, Raimondi

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 3 hrs. 12 min.

Jean-Pierre Ponnelle’s landmark production of Mozart’s most human comedy provides the perfect setting for this superb cast under James Levine’s ebullient leadership. The philandering and arrogant Count Almaviva (Thomas Allen) is no match for his wily servant Figaro (Ruggero Raimondi), whose soon-to-be-wife Susanna (Kathleen Battle) is as manipulative as she is charming. Add in one beautiful, disillusioned Countess (Carol Vaness) and one irrepressible, testosterone-laden teenage boy (Cherubino, played by Federica von Stade), and it’s no wonder some critics say this is the perfect opera.

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi, Jules Massenet, Richard Strauss
Librettist: Francesco Maria Piave, Henri Meilhac, Philippe Gille and Clemens Krauss

Levine, Armiliato, Summers; Fleming, Vargas, Hampson

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Chorus and Ballet

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 22 min.

There are few occasions to match the excitement and glamour and of an Opening Night at the Met. This spectacular gala showcased the extraordinary soprano Renée Fleming in three different, equally dazzling roles, each costumed by a different designer. The famous productions by Franco Zeffirelli (Verdi’s La Traviata, Act II, conducted by James Levine), Jean-Pierre Ponnelle (Massenet’s Manon, Act III), and John Cox (Strauss’s Capriccio, final scene) were fully staged. With Ramón Vargas, Thomas Hampson, Dwayne Croft, and Robert Lloyd.

Composer: Christoph Willibald Gluck
Librettist: Ranieri de' Calzabigi

Levine; de Niese, Murphy, Blythe

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Chorus and Ballet

Approximate running time: 1 hrs. 39 min.

Director and choreographer Mark Morris’s production of Gluck’s masterpiece updates the immortal story from its ancient Greek roots to the timeless present, where, he says, “the union of chorus and dancers feels inevitable and inseparable.” With costumes by Isaac Mizrahi and a set designed by Allen Moyer, this production surrounds the action with the superb Met chorus dressed as a crowd of historic characters who bear witness to the transformative power of love. Orfeo (Stephanie Blythe) is so consumed with grief at the death of his beloved Euridice (Danielle de Niese) that the gods (Heidi Grant Murphy as Amor) allow him to lead her back from the underworld—if he ...