Met Live opera returning to local theaters

• FUN staff
• Published: Aug 22, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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The Metropolitan Opera’s series of live, high-definition performance transmissions to movie theaters around the world expands in its third season and will include Baton Rouge’s Cinemark Perkins Rowe and United Artists Citiplace 11 theaters.

The Met: Live in HD will present 11 transmissions in 2008–09, up from eight. The HD productions will be seen in almost 800 venues, plus a number of new countries in South America and Europe are joining the network this season.

Tickets go on sale to the public today, Aug. 22. Visit http://www.metopera.org for information or call 1-800-MET-OPERA (1-800-638-6737). Tickets are available online via http://www.fathomevents.com or at participating theatre box offices.

Following are the scheduled performances:

• Sept. 22 (5:30 p.m.): The Met’s Opening Night Gala will star Renée Fleming and feature fully staged performances of La Traviata (Act II) – Verdi, Manon (Act III) – Massenet and Capriccio (Final Scene) – Richard Strauss.

• Oct. 11: (noon)  Salome – Strauss
• Karita Mattila caused a sensation when she sang Salome at the Met for the first time in 2004. She reprises her stunning interpretation of the part, including her unforgettable Dance of the Seven Veils.

• Nov. 8 (noon): Doctor Atomic (Met premiere) – Adams
• John Adams’s contemporary masterpiece explores a momentous episode of modern history: the creation of the atomic bomb.

• Nov. 22 (noon): La Damnation de Faust (new production) – Berlioz
• Robert Lepage, one of theater’s most imaginative directors, applies his artistry to Berlioz’s contemplation of good and evil. Using projections, Lepage has created a vision for La Damnation de Faust that seamlessly marries art and technology.

• Dec. 20 (11 a.m.): Thaïs (new production) – Massenet
• Renée Fleming stars as the Egyptian courtesan in search of spiritual sustenance. Thomas Hampson is the monk who falls from grace.

• Jan. 10 (noon): La Rondine (new production) – Puccini
• Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna provide the star power to deliver this ravishing romance from the world’s most popular opera composer. Gheorghiu plays the kept woman who gambles on true love, and Alagna is the man who makes her question the cost of her glittering existence.

• Jan. 24 (noon): Orfeo ed Euridice – Gluck
• Mark Morris’s acclaimed production returns. This complete vision for Gluck, with choreography by Morris and costumes by Isaac Mizrahi, features the artistry of Stephanie Blythe in the male title role.

• Feb. 7 (noon): Lucia di Lammermoor – Donizetti
• Anna Netrebko sings the title role of Donizetti’s fragile heroine for the first time at the Met, with tenor Rolando Villazón in the part of her lover, Edgardo.

• March 7 (noon): Madama Butterfly – Puccini
• Cristina Gallardo-Domâs returns to the title role of Anthony Minghella’s stunning production, a new classic of the Met repertory, opposite Marcello Giordani.

• March 21 (noon): La Sonnambula (new production) – Bellini
• Mary Zimmerman, who directed Natalie Dessay in last season’s hit production of Lucia di Lammermoor, underlines La Sonnambula’s dual elements of sleep and wakefulness in an intriguing staging set in the present.

• May 9 (11:30 a.m.): La Cenerentola – Rossini
• Hot on the heels of her triumphant Met debut as Rosina in last season’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Elina Garanca portrays another Rossini charmer in this bel canto Cinderella story. Lawrence Brownlee is her Prince Charming.