After two years of silence due to the pandemic, operatic arias will once more resound in at the theater this September as the Cultural Center of the Philippines relaunches the MET Opera in HD Season 7 series in cooperation with the Metropolitan Opera of New York, Filipinas Opera Society Foundation Inc., and Ayala Cinemas.

The CCP MET Opera in HD Season 7 will open on September 27, 7:30 PM at the Greenbelt 3 Cinema 1 with Georges Bizet’s Carmen.

In this celebrated production mezzo-soprano Clémentine Margaine is opera’s ultimate seductress, opposite tenor Roberto Alagna, who captivated Live in HD audiences as Don José in 2010.  Soprano Aleksandra Kurzak sings Micaëla, alongside bass Alexander Vinogradov as the swaggering bullfighter Escamillo.  Louis Langrée conducts Sir Richard Eyre’s lively production, a favorite in the Met’s repertoire. Carmen will have a second screening on October 4, 6:30 PM.

CCP MET Opera in HD Season 7 will feature one MET Opera in HD production every month until February 2023 at Greenbelt 3 in Makati.

Forthcoming are:

·         LA TRAVIATA by Giuseppe Verdi on November 15, 6:30 PM.  In his first Live in HD appearance as the Met’s Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Michael Mayer’s richly textured new production, featuring a dazzling 18th-century setting that changes with the seasons.  Soprano Diana Damrau plays the tragic heroine, Violetta, and tenor Juan Diego Flórez returns to the Met for the first time in five seasons to sing Alfredo, Violetta’s hapless lover.  Baritone Quinn Kelsey is Alfredo’s father, Germont, who destroys their love.

·         DIALOGUES DES CARMÉLITES by Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc on December 6, 6:30 PM. The Met’s Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads an accomplished ensemble in Poulenc’s devastating modern masterpiece of faith and martyrdom.  Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard is the young Blanche de La Force, opposite Met legend Karita Mattila as the First Prioress.

·         LA FILLE DU RÉGIMENT by Gaetano Donizetti on January 10, 2023, 6:30 PM.  Bel canto stars Pretty Yende and Javier Camarena team up for a feast of vocal fireworks on the Met stage.  Baritone Maurizio Muraro is Sergeant Sulplice, with mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe as the outlandish Marquise of Berkenfield.  Enrique Mazzola conducts.

·         SAMSON ET DALILA by Camille Saint-Saëns on February 7, 2023, 6:30 PM.  Saint-Saëns’s biblical epic stars mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča and tenor Roberto Alagna in the title roles; Live in HD audiences last saw the pair together in the acclaimed 2010 transmission of Bizet’s Carmen.  Bass-baritone Laurent Naouri co-stars as the High Priest, with baritone Elchin Azizov as the Philistine king Abimélech and bass Dmitry Belosselskiy as the Old Hebrew.  Darko Tresnjak, the Tony Award–winning director of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, makes his debut directing the first new Met production of the opera in 20 years.  Sir Mark Elder conducts.

For more information, visit the CCP website (www.culturalcenter.gov.ph) and follow the official CCP social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for the latest updates.