Catch free screenings of Met Opera performances as part of Summer HD Fest

Opera fiends rejoice! The Metropolitan Opera announced the return of its beloved Summer HD Festival to Lincoln Center Plaza this summer, with free nightly screenings from Friday, August 22 to Monday, September 1. 

For ten nights, the Met will project both classics and new works from its Live in HD series onto a screen on the facade of the opera house: Verdi’s Aida, Beethoven’s Fidelio, Strauss’ Salome, Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Jeanine Tesori’s Grounded, Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas, Puccini’s Tosca, Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West are all on the lineup. 

The series kicks off Friday, August 22, with a special screening of Maestro, the 2023 Leonard Bernstein biopic starring Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan. Directed by Cooper, the movie features plenty of musical moments, including Bernstein’s Mass and the Fancy Free ballet reinterpreted by Tony winner Justin Peck. 

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The rest of the line-up includes highlights from the Met’s 2024-2025 season: Michael Mayer’s production of Aida, featuring Angel Blue, Judit Kutasi, Piotr Beczala, Quinn Kelsey, and Morris Robinson; Fidelio, with Lise Davidsen, Ying Fang, David Butt Philip, Magnus Dietrich, Tomasz Konieczny and René Pape; Salome, the adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s play, starring Elza van den Heever, Michelle DeYoung, Gerhard Siegel and Peter Mattei; and Richard Eyre’s production of Le Nozze di Figaro, with a young cast that includes Federica Lombardi, Olga Kulchynska, Sun‑Ly Pierce, Joshua Hopkins and Michael Sumuel.

On Wednesday, August 27, see a screening of Tony winner Jeanine Tesori’s opera about drone warfare, Grounded, starring Emily D’Angelo and directed by Michael Mayer. The rest of the series includes Bartlett Sher’s productions of Les Contes d’Hoffmann and Il Barbiere di Siviglia; director Mary Zimmerman’s take on Florencia en el Amazonas; Lise Davidsen, Freddie De Tommaso, and Quinn KelseyIl in Tosca, and the 2018 production of Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West, with Eva‑Maria Westbroek, Jonas Kaufmann and Željko Lučić.

Over 2,500 seats will be available on a first‑come, first‑served basis, with no tickets required, for the 8 p.m. screenings (7:30 p.m. on select nights). You can get more information on The Met’s website.