FATHOM EVENTS AND THE METROPOLITAN OPERA RENEW SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIP TO BRING LIVE OPERA TO CINEMA AUDIENCES NATIONWIDE
PR Newswire
Renewal
Will Bring
the Two Organizations to a Two-Decade Milestone
DENVER
and
NEW YORK
,
Nov. 29, 2022
/PRNewswire/ — Fathom Events and the Metropolitan Opera announced an agreement today to renew
The Met: Live in HD
series, extending a cultural tradition that has delivered scores of performances from the Met’s stage at
New York’s
Lincoln Center directly to cinema screens nationwide since 2006.
The partnership between the country’s largest performing arts institution and leading event-cinema distributor will be renewed through the 2025–26 season, culminating in the 20th anniversary of the
Live in HD
program. The program renewal demonstrates how live performances can drive the return of audiences to movie theaters following the worst periods of the Covid pandemic.
The announcement comes ahead of the
Dec. 10
Live in HD
transmission of
The Hours
by Kevin Puts, based on the novel by
Michael Cunningham
and subsequent movie of the same title. The Met is presenting the world premiere staging of the work. It is one of seven new Met productions presented in the 2022-23 season, including the opening
Live in HD
performance, the Met premiere of Cherubini’s
Medea
. The other new productions are Giordano’s
Fedora
; Wagner’s
Lohengrin
; Mozart’s
Don Giovanni
and
Die Zauberflöte
; and
Terence Blanchard’s
Champion
. Blanchard’s
Fire Shut Up in
My Bones
, transmitted live to movie screens in 2021, was the first opera at the Met by a Black composer. The HD season will also feature performances of Verdi’s
Falstaff
and Strauss’s
Der Rosenkavalier
.
“The Met is a cultural touchstone and one of the most iconic global performing-arts brands,” said
Ray Nutt
, Fathom Events chief executive officer. “As exceptional and distinctly special is the work that The Met brings to audiences, Peter and his team are just as exceptional. They have been an enormously valuable partner in our own growth at Fathom Events. During the term of this new agreement, we will have been partnered for two decades, and we look forward to continuing to work with the Met to bring more high-quality performances to fans around the country.”
“The Met’s
Live in HD
series has brought the beauty and power of opera to millions of people who ordinarily would not have access to it,”
Peter Gelb
, the Met’s General Manager, said. “We are grateful to have such an excellent partner in Fathom and look forward to continuing our shared mission of making world-class opera available to cinema audiences throughout
the United States
and beyond.”
The partnership that began with fewer than 100 theaters has grown to an average of 725 theaters annually and an estimated audience of more than 580,000 annually – widely broadening the reach of The Met’s performances. The partnership has seen a total revenue of over
$205 million
which translates to approximately 10 million tickets sold. Today, Fathom’s events with The Met consistently rank among the top-10 in box office on the event date, according to Comscore data, and The Met now accounts for fully half of Fathom Events’ live-event box office revenue.
Tickets for the 2022–23 season of
The Met: Live in HD
series are on sale at participating theater box offices and through
Fathom Events.com
.
2022–23
Live in HD
Season at a Glance:
The
Live in HD
season began on
October 22, 2022
, with
Medea
and continued with
La Traviata
(November 5),
The Hours
(December 10),
Fedora
(January 14),
Lohengrin
(March 18),
Falstaff
(April 1),
Der Rosenkavalier
(
April 15
),
Champion
(
April 29
),
Don Giovanni
(May 20), and
Die Zauberflöte
(
June 3
). All performances will be Saturday matinees transmitted live from the Met stage.
A special encore screening of Mozart’s
The Magic Flute
will also be presented on December 3.
The Met: Live in HD
2022–23 Schedule
Cherubini’s
Medea—
MET PREMIERE
Live in HD
date: October 22, 2022
Production:
David McVicar
Set Designer:
David McVicar
Costume Designer: Doey Lüthi
Lighting Designer:
Paule Constable
Projection Designer: S. Katy Tucker
Movement Director:
Jo Meredith
Carlo Rizzi (Conductor);
Sondra Radvanovsky (Medea)
, Janai Brugger (Glauce),
Ekaterina Gubanova
(Neris),
Matthew Polenzani
(Giasone),
Michele Pertusi
(Creonte)
Having triumphed at the Met in some of the repertory’s fiercest soprano roles, Sondra Radvanovsky stars as the mythic sorceress who will stop at nothing in her quest for vengeance. Joining Radvanovsky in the Met-premiere production of Cherubini’s rarely performed masterpiece is tenor
Matthew Polenzani
as Medea’s Argonaut husband, Giasone; soprano Janai Brugger as her rival for his love, Glauce; bass Michele Pertusi as her father, Creonte, the King of
Corinth
; and mezzo-soprano
Ekaterina Gubanova
as Medea’s confidante, Neris.
Verdi’s
La Traviata
—REVIVAL
Live in HD
date: November 5, 2022
Production: Michael Mayer
Set Designer:
Christine Jones
Costume Designer: Susan Hilferty
Lighting Designer:
Kevin Adams
Choreographer: Lorin Latarro
Daniele Callegari (Conductor); Nadine Sierra (Violetta Valéry), Stephen Costello (
Alfredo Germont
),
Luca Salsi
(
Giorgio Germont
)
Soprano Nadine Sierra stars as the self-sacrificing courtesan Violetta—one of opera’s ultimate heroines—in
Michael Mayer’s
vibrant production of Verdi’s beloved tragedy. Tenor
Stephen Costello
is her self-centered lover, Alfredo, alongside baritone
Luca Salsi
as his disapproving father and Maestro Daniele Callegari on the podium.
Kevin Puts’s
The Hours
—WORLD-PREMIERE PRODUCTION
Live in HD
date: December 10, 2022
Librettist: Greg Pierce
Production: Phelim McDermott
Set and Costume Designer: Tom Pye
Lighting Designer:
Bruno Poet
Projection Designer:
Finn Ross
Choreographer: Annie-B Parson
Dramaturg:
Paul Cremo
Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Conductor); Renée Fleming (Clarissa Vaughan), Kelli O’Hara (
Laura Brown
), Joyce DiDonato (Virginia Woolf), Sean Panikkar (
Leonard Woolf
), William Burden (Louis),
Kyle Ketelsen
(Richard),
Brandon Cedel
(
Dan Brown
)
The world-premiere staging of Kevin Puts’s
The Hours
, adapted from
Michael Cunningham’s
acclaimed novel, which also served as the inspiration for the Oscar-winning film, arrives in cinemas this December. In her highly anticipated return to the Met, soprano Renée Fleming joins soprano Kelli O’Hara and mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato to portray three women from different eras who grapple with their inner demons and their roles in society.
Phelim McDermott
, who recently created the Met’s acclaimed production of
Philip Glass’s
Akhnaten
, directs this compelling drama, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes the podium to conduct Puts’s powerful score.
Giordano’s
Fedora
—NEW PRODUCTION
Live in HD
date: January 14, 2023
Production: David McVicar, Set Designer:
Charles Edwards
, Costume Designer: Brigitte Reiffenstuel, Lighting Designer:
Adam Silverman
Marco Armiliato (Conductor); Sonya Yoncheva (Fedora), Rosa Feola (Olga), Piotr Beczała (Loris Ipanoff), Artur Ruciński (De Siriex)
Giordano’s exhilarating drama
Fedora
returns to the Met for the first time in 25 years, starring soprano Sonya Yoncheva in the title role of the 19th-century princess who falls in love with her fiancé’s murderer, Count Loris, sung by tenor Piotr Beczała. Soprano Rosa Feola is the Countess Olga, Fedora’s confidante, and baritone Artur Ruciński is the diplomat De Siriex.
Marco Armiliato
conducts
David McVicar’s
intricate production, with a fixed set that unfolds to reveal the opera’s settings: a palace in
St. Petersburg
, a fashionable Parisian salon, and a picturesque villa in the Swiss Alps.
Wagner’s
Lohengrin
—NEW PRODUCTION
Live in HD
date: March 18, 2023
Production: François Girard, Set and Costume Designer: Tim Yip, Lighting Designer:
David Finn
, Projection Designer:
Peter Flaherty
, Choreographer: TBA
Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Conductor); Tamara Wilson (Elsa), Christine Goerke (Ortrud), Piotr Beczała (Lohengrin),
Evgeny Nikitin
(Telramund),
Brian Mulligan
(Herald), Günther Groissböck (Heinrich)
Wagner’s
Lohengrin
returns to the Met stage after an absence of 17 years with this atmospheric new staging by François Girard. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts a cast led by tenor Piotr Beczała in the title role of the mysterious swan knight. Soprano
Tamara Wilson
is the virtuous duchess Elsa, falsely accused of murder, going head-to-head with soprano
Christine Goerke
as the cunning sorceress Ortrud. Bass-baritone Evgeny Nikitin is Ortrud’s power-hungry husband, Telramund, and bass Günther Groissböck is
King Heinrich
.
Verdi’s
Falstaff
—REVIVAL
Live in HD
date: April 1, 2023
Production:
Robert Carsen
Set Designer:
Paul Steinberg
Costume Designer: Brigitte Reiffenstuel
Lighting Designers: Robert Carsen and Peter Van Praet
Daniele Rustioni (Conductor); Hera Hyesang Park (Nannetta); Ailyn Pérez (Alice Ford);
Marie-Nicole Lemieux
(Mistress Quickly);
Jennifer Johnson Cano
(
Meg Page
);
Bogdan Volkov
(
Fenton
);
Michael Volle
(Falstaff);
Christopher Maltman
(Ford)
Verdi’s Shakespearean comedy features a brilliant ensemble cast in
Robert Carsen’s
celebrated staging. Baritone
Michael Volle
sings his first Verdi role at the Met as the caddish knight Falstaff, gleefully tormented by a trio of clever women who deliver his comeuppance. Reuniting after their acclaimed performances in the production’s 2019 run are soprano Ailyn Pérez as Alice Ford, soprano
Jennifer Johnson Cano
as
Meg Page
, and contralto
Marie-Nicole Lemieux
as Mistress Quickly. Soprano Hera Hyesang Park and tenor
Bogdan Volkov
are the young couple Nannetta and
Fenton
, and
Daniele Rustioni
conducts.
Strauss’s
Der Rosenkavalier
—REVIVAL
Live in HD
date: April 15, 2023
Production: Robert Carsen
Set Designer: Paul Steinberg
Costume Designer: Brigitte Reiffenstuel
Lighting Designers: Robert Carsen and Peter Van Praet
Choreographer: Philippe Giraudeau
Simone Young (Conductor); Lise Davidsen (Marschallin), Isabel Leonard (Octavian), Erin Morley (Sophie),
Katharine Goeldner
(Annina), René Barbera (Italian Singer),
Thomas Ebenstein
(Valzacchi), Markus Brück (Faninal), Günther Groissböck (
Baron Ochs
)
A stellar trio assembles to take on the lead roles of Strauss’s comedy, with soprano
Lise Davidsen
in her Met role debut as the Marschallin, opposite mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard in her Met role debut as Octavian and soprano Erin Morley as Sophie. Bass Günther Groissböck returns as Baron Ochs, and Markus Brück is Sophie’s father, Faninal. Maestro Simone Young takes the podium to oversee
Robert Carsen’s
fin-de-siècle staging.
Terence Blanchard’s
Champion
—MET PREMIERE
Live in HD
date: April 29, 2023
Librettist:
Michael Cristofer
Production:
James Robinson
Set Designer:
Allen Moyer
Costume Designer:
Paul Tazewell
Lighting Designer:
Donald Holder
Projection Designer:
Greg Emetaz
Choreographer: Camille A. Brown
Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Conductor); Latonia Moore (
Emelda Griffith
), Stephanie Blythe (Kathy Hagan),
Ryan Speedo Green
(
Young Emile Griffith
),
Eric Owens
(
Emile Griffith
)
Six-time Grammy Award–winning composer Terence Blanchard brings his first opera to the Met after his
Fire Shut Up in
My Bones
made history in the 2021–22 season. Bass-baritone
Ryan Speedo Green
is the young boxer
Emile Griffith
, who rises from obscurity to become a world champion, and bass-baritone
Eric Owens
portrays Griffith’s older self, haunted by the ghosts of his past. Soprano
Latonia Moore
is
Emelda Griffith
, the boxer’s estranged mother, and mezzo-soprano
Stephanie Blythe
is the bar owner Kathy Hagan. Yannick Nézet-Séguin returns to the podium to conduct Blanchard’s second Met premiere. Director
James Robinson
, whose productions of
Fire Shut Up in
My Bones
and
Porgy and Bess
brought down the house, oversees the staging.
Camille A. Brown
, whose choreography electrified audiences in
Fire
and
Porgy
, also returns.
Mozart’s
Don Giovanni
—NEW PRODUCTION
Live in HD
date: May 20, 2023
Production: Ivo van Hove
Set and Lighting Designer: Jan Versweyveld
Costume Designer: An D’Huys
Projection Designer: Christopher Ash
Choreographer:
Sara Erde
Nathalie Stutzmann
(Conductor);
Federica Lombardi
(
Donna Anna
), Ana María Martínez (
Donna Elvira
),
Ying Fang
(Zerlina),
Ben Bliss
(
Don Ottavio
),
Peter Mattei
(
Don Giovanni
), Adam Plachetka (Leporello), Alfred Walker (Masetto), Alexander Tsymbalyuk (Commendatore)
Tony Award–winning director
Ivo van Hove
makes his Met debut with a new staging of Mozart’s tragicomedy
Don Giovanni
. The tale of deceit and damnation is set in an abstract architectural landscape that explores the dark corners of the story and its characters. Nathalie Stutzmann makes her Met debut conducting a star-studded cast led by baritone Peter Mattei as a magnetic
Don Giovanni
, alongside the Leporello of bass-baritone
Adam Plachetka
. Sopranos
Federica Lombardi
, Ana María Martínez, and
Ying Fang
are Giovanni’s conquests—Donna Anna,
Donna Elvira
, and Zerlina—and tenor
Ben Bliss
sings
Don Ottavio
.
Mozart’s
Die Zauberflöte
—NEW PRODUCTION
Live in HD
date: June 3, 2023
Production and Choreography: Simon McBurney
Set Designer:
Michael Levine
Costume Designer: Nicky Gillibrand
Lighting Designer:
Jean Kalman
Projection Designer:
Finn Ross
Sound Designer:
Gareth Fry
Nathalie Stutzmann (Conductor); Erin Morley (Pamina), Kathryn Lewek (Queen of the Night),
Lawrence Brownlee
(Tamino),
Thomas Oliemans
(Papageno),
Alan Held
(Speaker),
Stephen Milling
(Sarastro),
Brenton Ryan
(Monostatos)
Nathalie Stutzmann
conducts her second Mozart work this season with a new production of
Die Zauberflöte
. In his Met-debut staging, Simon McBurney incorporates projections, sound effects, and acrobatics to match the spectacle and drama of Mozart’s fable. The brilliant cast includes soprano
Erin Morley
as Pamina, tenor
Lawrence Brownlee
as Tamino, baritone Thomas Oliemans in his Met debut as Papageno, soprano Kathryn Lewek as the Queen of the Night, and bass
Stephen Milling
as Sarastro.
Mozart’s
The Magic Flute
—SPECIAL ENCORE PRESENTATION
Originally transmitted live on December 30, 2006
Live in HD
Encore Date: December 3, 2022
Production:
Julie Taymor
Set Designer:
George Tsypin
Costume Designer:
Julie Taymor
Lighting Designer: Donald Holder
Puppet Designers: Julie Taymor and Michael Curry
Choreographer: Mark Dendy
English Adaptation: J.D. McClatchy
James Levine (Conductor); Ying Huang (Pamina), Erika Miklósa (Queen of the Night),
Matthew Polenzani
(Tamino),
Greg Fedderly
(Monostatos),
Nathan Gunn
(Papageno),
David Pittsinger
(Speaker), René Pape (Sarastro)
The Met made history in
December 2006
when it presented its first
Live in HD
transmission to cinemas worldwide—the abridged English-language version of Mozart’s
The Magic Flute
.
Julie Taymor’s
whimsical production features a winning ensemble, including tenor Matthew Polenzani, baritone Nathan Gunn, and bass René Pape. The opera returns to select movie theaters in a special encore presentation during the holiday season.
About Fathom Events
Fathom is a recognized leader in the entertainment industry as one of the top distributors of content to movie theaters in
North America
. Owned by AMC Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: AMC); Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CNK); and Regal, a subsidiary of the Cineworld Group (LSE: CINE.L), Fathom operates the largest cinema distribution network, delivering a wide variety of programming and experiences to cinema audiences in all of the top U.S. markets and to more than 45 countries. For more information, visit
www.FathomEvents.com
.
About
The Met: Live in HD
The Met: Live in HD
series has made the Met the world’s leading provider of alternative cinema content and the only arts institution with an ongoing global series of this scale. When the series began in
December 2006
, the Met was the first arts company to experiment with alternative cinema content. Since then, the program has expanded, with more than 29.7 million tickets sold to date and robust attendance in
the United States
,
Germany
,
Canada
,
France
, and the
United Kingdom
.
The Met: Live in
HD series has increased accessibility to Met performances for audiences around the world. With a global average ticket price of
$23
, the series has made world-class performances accessible to millions of opera lovers each season.
Met artists serve as hosts for the
Live in HD
series, providing background on the operas, introducing exciting behind-the-scenes features, and conducting live interviews with stars, crew, and production teams.
The Met: Live in HD
series is made possible by a generous grant from its founding sponsor, the Neubauer Family Foundation. Digital support of
The Met: Live in HD
is provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
The Met: Live in HD
series is supported by Rolex. The HD broadcasts are also supported by Toll Brothers, America’s luxury homebuilder®.
Within months of their initial live transmissions, the
Live in HD
programs are shown on PBS in
the United States
. The PBS series
Great Performances at the Met
is produced in association with PBS and WNET, with support from Toll Brothers, America’s luxury homebuilder®.
For more information about
The Met: Live in H
D, visit
metopera.org/hd
.
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