The Met Saturday Morning Broadcasts are back.....
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Some of the US stations do delayed broadcasts instead of carrying them "live"; the one in Fairbanks Alaska (KUAC) carries them on Sunday morning. I sometimes listen to KUAC when there's something I want to hear but was unable to tune in on Saturday.
I believe the European stations do delayed broadcasts as well, probably at widely differing times.
The Met Opera on Demand website offers streaming of selected archived performances in video and audio formats for $15 a month, or $5 (HD videos from past seasons) or $4 (everything else) for "rentals" of single performances. There are something like 800 performances archived, some from as far back as the 1930s. For instance, the La Favorita broadcast from 1978 that is to be rebroadcast tomorrow (Mar 3) has long been among those available for streaming and will probably continue to be so.
In the US students can stream, for free I believe, through their schools' library websites. If you're a student or faculty member, ask a nice reference librarian if the service is available to you; "Student Access users must first login through their school or library's website. Once authenticated by their school, users must come to the Met website using the authenticated links."
Student Access
www.metopera.org
Met-on-Demand does not carry the current HD broadcasts that are available in movie theaters. Those are available for $25 each on the The Met: Live at Home website, but only if you are in an area where they are not carried in theaters; Met-on-Demand does have many HD videos from past seasons.
Student Access
www.metopera.org
In all cases certain works may not be available outside the US because of copyright quirks.
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Thanks. I'm having a look through it now found R3 is participating but Tannhäuser from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden is playing live just now, so I'll continue looking later.
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I only pray that those in other countries were able to find the proper station for La Favorita. It was a tour de force. Pav and Verrett were meant for each other. They were gorgeous together. And to think -- they weren't even members of the Golden Age!
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It was indeed worth a Saturday morning to hear a performance that took me back to the days when I was so devastatingly handsome that I had to beat off suitors with an ashplant (or a copy of Joyce's Ulysses, where I learned what an ashplant was).
OK, maybe my memory isn't what it used to be... Anyway, the performance took me back to a time when I kept the radio on because I was thrilled by the singing and not because I was unwilling to admit that that wasn't going to happen.
Some are on Opera on 3 on BBCR3
Verdi’s La Traviata 2023-03-11 18:00z
Opera on 3
From the Met in New York: Verdi's La Traviata.
Angel Blue sings the title role of the 'fallen woman', the tragic courtesan Violetta, who falls in love with Alfredo, sung by tenor Dmytro Popov. Baritone Artur Ruciński is Germont, Alfredo's father, who condemns Violetta's racy past and persuades her to leave Alfredo, unaware of the ultimate tragic sacrifice she will make for Alfredo.
The score contains some of Verdi's most intimate and heartfelt music, conducted tonight by Nicola Luisotti.
Presented by Deborah Lew Harder with commentator Ira Siff.
Violetta Valéry ..... Angel Blue, (soprano)
Alfredo Germont ..... Dmytro Popov, (tenor)
Giorgio Germont ..... Artur Ruciński, (baritone)
Flora Bervoix ..... Megan Marino, (mezzo)
Annina ..... Eve Gigliotti, (soprano)
Gastone ..... David Blalock, (tenor)
Marquis d'Obigny ..... Christopher Job, (bass)
Doctor Grenvil ...... Adam Lau, (bass)
Giuseppe ..... Patrick Miller, (bass)
Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra
Nicola Luisotti, conductor
www.bbc.co.uk
Wagner's Lohengrin 2023-03-18 18:00z
Opera on 3
Wagner's Lohengrin, with a stellar cast led by tenor Piotr Beczała in the title role and the soprano Tamara Wilson as Elsa von Brabant.
Based on a German medieval romance, the noble and pure knight Lohengrin is sent to defend and protect Elsa, and as the couple fall madly in love, a dark conspiracy based on treason and jealousy threatens to undermine them, with tragic consequences. Wagner named Lohengrin a 'Romantic opera', and significantly he developed on it his first attempts to write a through-composed music drama, innovating the genre and changing it for ever.
Presented by Debra Lew Harder, in conversation with Ira Siff.
Lohengrin ..... Piotr Beczała (tenor)
Elsa von Brabant ..... Tamara Wilson (soprano)
Ortrud ..... Christine Goerke (soprano)
Friedrich von Telramund ..... Evgeny Nikitin (baritone)
Heinrich I ..... Günther Groissböck is King Heinrich (bass)
Herald ..... Brian Mulligan (bass-baritone)
Chorus & Orchestra of the Metrapolitan Opera House
Yannick Nézet-Séguin (conductor).
www.bbc.co.uk
Verdi’s La Traviata 2023-03-11 18:00z
Opera on 3
From the Met in New York: Verdi's La Traviata.
Angel Blue sings the title role of the 'fallen woman', the tragic courtesan Violetta, who falls in love with Alfredo, sung by tenor Dmytro Popov. Baritone Artur Ruciński is Germont, Alfredo's father, who condemns Violetta's racy past and persuades her to leave Alfredo, unaware of the ultimate tragic sacrifice she will make for Alfredo.
The score contains some of Verdi's most intimate and heartfelt music, conducted tonight by Nicola Luisotti.
Presented by Deborah Lew Harder with commentator Ira Siff.
Violetta Valéry ..... Angel Blue, (soprano)
Alfredo Germont ..... Dmytro Popov, (tenor)
Giorgio Germont ..... Artur Ruciński, (baritone)
Flora Bervoix ..... Megan Marino, (mezzo)
Annina ..... Eve Gigliotti, (soprano)
Gastone ..... David Blalock, (tenor)
Marquis d'Obigny ..... Christopher Job, (bass)
Doctor Grenvil ...... Adam Lau, (bass)
Giuseppe ..... Patrick Miller, (bass)
Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra
Nicola Luisotti, conductor
BBC Radio 3 - Opera on 3, Verdi’s La Traviata
Verdi’s La Traviata from the New York Metropolitan Opera.
Wagner's Lohengrin 2023-03-18 18:00z
Opera on 3
Wagner's Lohengrin, with a stellar cast led by tenor Piotr Beczała in the title role and the soprano Tamara Wilson as Elsa von Brabant.
Based on a German medieval romance, the noble and pure knight Lohengrin is sent to defend and protect Elsa, and as the couple fall madly in love, a dark conspiracy based on treason and jealousy threatens to undermine them, with tragic consequences. Wagner named Lohengrin a 'Romantic opera', and significantly he developed on it his first attempts to write a through-composed music drama, innovating the genre and changing it for ever.
Presented by Debra Lew Harder, in conversation with Ira Siff.
Lohengrin ..... Piotr Beczała (tenor)
Elsa von Brabant ..... Tamara Wilson (soprano)
Ortrud ..... Christine Goerke (soprano)
Friedrich von Telramund ..... Evgeny Nikitin (baritone)
Heinrich I ..... Günther Groissböck is King Heinrich (bass)
Herald ..... Brian Mulligan (bass-baritone)
Chorus & Orchestra of the Metrapolitan Opera House
Yannick Nézet-Séguin (conductor).
BBC Radio 3 - Opera on 3, Wagner's Lohengrin
From the Met, Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Wagner's Lohengrin.
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I missed the 1st act sadly. How was Blue's sempre libera?
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I don't know who Nicola Luisotti is, but I know that he has no idea what to do with the orchestral prelude to La Traviata. It was a perfect demonstration of what you get when you think that a composer's intentions are fulfilled simply by playing what's in the score. Fortunately, the party music was loud and fast and woke me up. Unfortunately, however, the prelude foreshadowed a performance all too deficient in delicacy, subtlety and atmosphere. Where was the scent of lilacs? The housekeeper must have been having a sick day. I hope it wasn't consumption. Probably just an ague.
If you like operatic singing to be loud, this matinee was for you. When Angel Blue brought down the volume for the poignant "Dite alla giovine," it was such a relief and the sound was so pleasing that I had to ask why we hadn't heard more of it. And she wasn't alone. "Libiamo" was loud; "Un di felice" was loud; "Ah, fors' e lui" got loud quickly; "Sempre libera" was very loud (which is fine, I guess)... The epitome of loud was the cadenza of a very speedy and athletic "Di provenza il mar," in which rich-voiced baritone Artur Ruciński showed off not only his reserves of power but his incredible breath control. I kept waiting for him to take a breath and he just refused until I was the one turning blue. It was amazing, impressive, egotistical and offensive - and then he gave us the cabaletta, whether we wanted to hear it or not.
After the unspeakably vulgar dance music that begins act three we did get to hear Angel Blue singing softly again in her heartbreaking solo that leads into the act finale, and thanks to tuberculosis she had more opportunities to sound lovely in act four. She also did a goodly amount of coughing, gasping and weeping, all of which I could have done without, but I think the audience loved her for it. There's something about women dying onstage...
The voices? Fairly to very pleasant, as singing goes these days. No wobblies. Angel Blue strains a bit at the top, but negotiated the coloratura respectably. Dmytro Popov is darker and weightier than most Alfredos, doesn't moderate the volume well (like most modern tenors), and would sound more at home in the Kromy Forest than in the Paris demimonde. Ruciński probably has the most impressive sound, and he knows it.
Overall, not a stylish performance, but stylish is just not to be expected nowadays. An interesting moment came during the intermission quiz, when a recording of Victor Maurel (Verdi's original Iago and Falstaff) was played, and guest baritone Christopher Maltman, after complimenting Maurel, opined that that kind of singing wouldn't go over in today's large opera houses. Hmmmmm...
If you like operatic singing to be loud, this matinee was for you. When Angel Blue brought down the volume for the poignant "Dite alla giovine," it was such a relief and the sound was so pleasing that I had to ask why we hadn't heard more of it. And she wasn't alone. "Libiamo" was loud; "Un di felice" was loud; "Ah, fors' e lui" got loud quickly; "Sempre libera" was very loud (which is fine, I guess)... The epitome of loud was the cadenza of a very speedy and athletic "Di provenza il mar," in which rich-voiced baritone Artur Ruciński showed off not only his reserves of power but his incredible breath control. I kept waiting for him to take a breath and he just refused until I was the one turning blue. It was amazing, impressive, egotistical and offensive - and then he gave us the cabaletta, whether we wanted to hear it or not.
After the unspeakably vulgar dance music that begins act three we did get to hear Angel Blue singing softly again in her heartbreaking solo that leads into the act finale, and thanks to tuberculosis she had more opportunities to sound lovely in act four. She also did a goodly amount of coughing, gasping and weeping, all of which I could have done without, but I think the audience loved her for it. There's something about women dying onstage...
The voices? Fairly to very pleasant, as singing goes these days. No wobblies. Angel Blue strains a bit at the top, but negotiated the coloratura respectably. Dmytro Popov is darker and weightier than most Alfredos, doesn't moderate the volume well (like most modern tenors), and would sound more at home in the Kromy Forest than in the Paris demimonde. Ruciński probably has the most impressive sound, and he knows it.
Overall, not a stylish performance, but stylish is just not to be expected nowadays. An interesting moment came during the intermission quiz, when a recording of Victor Maurel (Verdi's original Iago and Falstaff) was played, and guest baritone Christopher Maltman, after complimenting Maurel, opined that that kind of singing wouldn't go over in today's large opera houses. Hmmmmm...
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I would laugh at such a statement if it didn’t make me so sad…
And again with this idea that operatic houses have become so big, only our squilloless modern singers can fill them properly. They must think Flagstad would sound like a little birdie if she was singing at the Lincoln Center. Appart from the Met, which major opera houses have gotten bigger since the early 20th century?
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Yeah... It's even sadder if you've heard Maltman.
What would Victor Maurel say about that?
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Ok now I’m laughing.
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