See the world's best operas here on Waiheke as performed at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City.
MADAMA BUTTERFLY - Giacomo Puccini
Wednesday 26 February 2020 5pm
Run Time: 3 hrs 12 mins (estimated)
Tickets: Standard $34. Senior / Child $29
Anthony Minghella’s vividly cinematic staging returns to cinemas, featuring soprano Hui He in the devastating title role. Pier Giorgio Morandi conducts one of opera’s most beautiful and heartbreaking scores, with a cast that also includes Andrea Carè as Pinkerton, Plácido Domingo as Sharpless, and mezzo-soprano Elizabeth DeShong as Suzuki.
COMING UP :
AKHNATEN - Philip Glass
Wednesday 18 March 2020 5pm
Run Time: 3 hrs 21 mins (estimated)
Tickets: Standard $34. Senior / Child $29
Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo headlines American composer Philip Glass’s transcendent contemporary creation, with Karen Kamensek conducting. Phelim McDermott’s stunning production employs a virtuosic company of acrobats and jugglers to conjure a mystical reimagining of ancient Egypt.
"Please note that Akhnaten will be performed without subtitles, except for scene titles and select texts. Director Phelim McDermott’s goal is to create a theatrical experience that is beyond words, plot information and conventional storytelling. He wants the audience for Akhnaten to be overtaken by the hypnotic nature of the music, the visual imagery and the pageant-like nature of the piece. The scribe sets the scene in English, and the rest of the text (including ancient Egyptian and Hebrew) which does not have subtitles is highly repetitive, often fragmented and ritualistic rather than descriptive.”
WOZZECK - Alban Berg
Wednesday 8 April 2020 5pm
Run Time: 1 hrs 32 mins
Tickets: Standard $34. Senior / Child $29
Berg’s 20th-century shocker stars baritone Peter Mattei in the title role, with Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin on the podium and soprano Elza van den Heever as the long-suffering Marie. Groundbreaking visual artist and director William Kentridge unveils a bold new staging set in an apocalyptic wasteland.
Tickets: Standard $34. Senior / Child $29
PORGY AND BESS - The Gershwins'
Wednesday 6 May 2020 5pm
Run Time: 3 hrs 15 mins (estimated)
Tickets: Standard $34. Senior / Child $29
The Gershwins’ modern American masterpiece has its first Met performances in almost three decades, starring bass-baritone Eric Owens and soprano Angel Blue in the title roles. Director James Robinson’s stylish production transports audiences to Catfish Row, a setting vibrant with the music, dancing, emotion, and heartbreak of its inhabitants.
AGRIPPINA - George Frideric Handel
Wednesday 27 May 2020 5pm
Run Time: 3 hrs 45 mins (estimated)
Tickets: Standard $34. Senior / Child $29
As the imperious title empress, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato leads the Met premiere of Handel’s tale of deception and deceit. Harry Bicket conducts Sir David McVicar’s wry new production, which gives this Baroque black comedy a politically charged, modern updating.
DER FLIEGENDE HOLLANDER - Richard Wagner
Wednesday 24 June 2020 5pm
Run Time: 2 hrs 19 mins (estimated)
Tickets: Standard $34. Senior / Child $29
Sir Bryn Terfel returns to the Met for the first time since 2012, as the mysterious seafarer searching for salvation. Director François Girard, whose mesmerizing production of Parsifal recently wowed Met audiences, returns to stage Wagner’s eerie early masterwork.
TOSCA - Giacomo Puccini
Wednesday 29 July 2020 5pm
Run Time: 2 hrs 57 mins (estimated)
Tickets: Standard $34. Senior / Child $29
Superstar soprano Anna Netrebko appears in her 16th Live in HD transmission, taking on the soaring title diva of Puccini’s grand melodrama. Bertrand de Billy conducts Sir David McVicar’s evocative production, with tenor Brian Jagde as Tosca’s impassioned lover, Cavaradossi, and baritone Michael Volle as the sinister Scarpia.
MARIA STUARDA - Gaetano Donizetti
Wednesday 19 August 2020 5pm
Run ime: 2 hrs 46 mins (estimated)
Tickets: Standard $34. Senior / Child $29
A pseudo-historical opera about Mary, Queen of Scots, and her bitter rivalry with Queen Elizabeth I, Donizetti’s drama thrills with intense stand-offs and impressive vocal displays. Soprano Diana Damrau and mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton square off as two of history’s most formidable monarchs, with Maurizio Benini conducting.