As Black History Month kicks off, you might be asking yourself “where are all the Black performances I missed or want to relive again?” Well, you’re in luck! The Metropolitan Opera is honoring Black History Month with 14-days of musical and dramatic talent with performances featured during the Met’s Nightly Opera Stream series. The Met will shine a light on the leading performances of Black artists that dominated its seasons over the last 50 years; with special attention to The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, Leontyne Price, Kathleen Battle, Lawrence Brownlee, and more.
The streams will be free to the public every night beginning at 7:30pm at MetOpera.org for a 23-hour timeframe. The schedule for each night is as follows:
Monday, February 1 – The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
Starring Angel Blue, Golda Schultz, Latonia Moore, Denyce Graves, Frederick Ballentine, Eric Owens, Alfred Walker, and Donovan Singletary, conducted by David Robertson. Production by James Robinson. Originally aired February 1, 2020.
Tuesday, February 2 – Verdi’s La Forza del Destino
Starring Leontyne Price, Isola Jones, Giuseppe Giacomini, Leo Nucci, and Bonaldo Giaiotti, conducted by James Levine. Production by John Dexter. Originally aired March 24, 1984.
Wednesday, February 3 – Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmelites
Starring Maria Ewing, Jessye Norman, Betsy Norden, Régine Crespin, and Florence Quivar, conducted by Manuel Rosenthal. Production by John Dexter. Aired on April 4, 1987.
Thursday, February 4 – Rossini’s La Cenerentola
Starring Elina Garanča, Lawrence Brownlee, Simone Alberghini, Alessandro Corbelli, and John Relyea, conducted by Maurizio Benini. Production by Cesare Lievi. Aired on May 9, 2009.
Friday, February 5 – Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro
Starring Carol Vaness, Kathleen Battle, Frederica von Stade, Thomas Allen, and Ruggero Raimondi, conducted by James Levine. Production by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle. Aired on December 14, 1985.
Saturday, February 6 – Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos
Starring Jessye Norman, Kathleen Battle, Tatiana Troyanos, and James King, conducted by James Levine. Production by Bodo Igesz. From March 12, 1988.
Sunday, February 7 – Puccini’s Tosca
Starring Shirley Verrett, Luciano Pavarotti, and Cornell MacNeil, conducted by James Conlon. Directed by Tito Gobbi. Aired on December 19, 1978.
Monday, February 8 – Wagner’s Das Rheingold
Starring Wendy Bryn Harmer, Stephanie Blythe, Patricia Bardon, Richard Croft, Gerhard Siegel, Dwayne Croft, Bryn Terfel, Eric Owens, Franz-Josef Selig, and Hans-Peter König, conducted by James Levine. Production by Robert Lepage. Aired on October 9, 2010.
Tuesday, February 9 – Verdi’s Ernani
Starring Leona Mitchell, Luciano Pavarotti, Sherrill Milnes, and Ruggero Raimondi, conducted by James Levine. Production by Pier Luigi Samaritani. Aired on December 17, 1983.
Wednesday, February 10 – Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Starring Kathleen Battle, Rockwell Blake, Leo Nucci, Enzo Dara, and Ferruccio Furlanetto, conducted by Ralf Weikert. Production by John Cox. Aired on December 3, 1988.
Thursday, February 11 – Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera
Starring Aprile Millo, Harolyn Blackwell, Florence Quivar, Luciano Pavarotti, and Leo Nucci, conducted by James Levine. Production by Piero Faggioni. Aired on January 26, 1991.
Friday, February 12 – Philip Glass’s Akhnaten
Starring Dísella Lárusdóttir, J’Nai Bridges, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Aaron Blake, Will Liverman, Richard Bernstein, and Zachary James, conducted by Karen Kamensek. Production by Phelim McDermott. Aired on November 23, 2019.
Saturday, February 13 – Berlioz’s Les Troyens
Starring Tatiana Troyanos, Jessye Norman, Plácido Domingo, and Allan Monk, conducted by James Levine. Production by Fabrizio Melano. Aired on October 8, 1983.
Sunday, February 14 – Wagner’s Die Walkure
Starring Hildegard Behrens, Jessye Norman, Christa Ludwig, Gary Lakes, James Morris, and Kurt Moll, conducted by James Levine. Production by Otto Schenk. Aired on April 8, 1989.
