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The Metropolitan Opera is currently closed until 2021, but the company is continuing to delight opera lovers with free nightly streams of complete past productions from its archives. The lineup from August 17 through August 23 includes favorites by Verdi, Puccini, Rossini and Tchaikovsky. For the first time, a majority of the week's recordings predate the 2006 advent of the Met's Live in HD series. (Click here to see the Met's schedule for October 12 through October 18.)
Each production goes live on the Met's website at 7:30pm EDT (12:30am BST) and remains available until 6:30pm EDT the following day. The operas can also be watched through the Met Opera on Demand app. A full schedule for Week 23 is below.
Simon Boccanegra | Photograph: Marty Sohl
This week's lineup includes four productions from before the HD period: Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini, with Renata Scotto and Plácido Domingo; Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera, with Aprile Millo and Luciano Pavarotti; Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, with Kathleen Battle; and Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, with Judith Blegen and Frederica von Stade as the hungry, hungry kiddos. Rounding out the list are more recent full productions of Tosca, Eugene Onegin and Simon Boccanegra. To learn more about these works, look through the Met's helpful thumbnail guide or peruse the company's detailed collection of articles and podcasts.
In addition to these free operas, the Met now streams pay-per-view virtual concerts every other week. The third of these, which features Roberto Alagna and Aleksandra Kurzak performing from the south of France, is available through August 28.
This week's Metropolitan Opera nightly streaming schedule:
Monday, August 17: Puccini’s Tosca
Starring Patricia Racette, Roberto Alagna and George Gagnidze. Conducted by Riccardo Frizza. Transmitted live on November 9, 2013.
Tuesday, August 18: Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini
Starring Renata Scotto, Plácido Domingo and Cornell MacNeil. Conducted by James Levine. Transmitted live on April 7, 1984.
Wednesday, August 19: Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin
Starring Anna Netrebko, Elena Maximova, Alexey Dolgov, Peter Mattei and Štefan Kocán. Conducted by Robin Ticciati. Transmitted live on April 22, 2017.
Thursday, August 20: Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera
Starring Aprile Millo, Harolyn Blackwell, Florence Quivar, Luciano Pavarotti and Leo Nucci. Conducted by James Levine. Transmitted live on January 26, 1991.
Friday August 21: Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra
Starring Adrianne Pieczonka, Marcello Giordani, Plácido Domingo and James Morris. Conducted by James Levine. Transmitted live on February 6, 2010.
Saturday, August 22: Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Starring Kathleen Battle, Rockwell Blake, Leo Nucci, Enzo Dara and Ferruccio Furlanetto. Conducted by Ralf Weikert. Transmitted live on December 3, 1988.
Sunday, August 23: Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel
Starring Judith Blegen, Frederica von Stade, Jean Kraft, Rosalind Elias and Michael Devlin. Conducted by Thomas Fulton. Transmitted live on December 25, 1982.
RECOMMENDED: Our day-by-day roundup of the best theater, opera and dance to stream online
Eugene Onegin | Photograph: Ken Howard
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