Utica, N.Y. — As part of its 2024–25 season, Munson will continue to show the Metropolitan Opera’s award-winning series of live performance transmissions beginning in October and running through May 31 in the Sinnott Family – Bank of Utica Auditorium in the Museum of Art. Tickets are $24 for Munson Members, $30 for the general public, and $15 for students and can be purchased at munson.art/metlive.
“The Met: Live in HD” kicks off with Jacques Offenbach’s fantastical “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” at 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 5. This opera recounts events of a play inspired by the stories of German writer E.T.A. Hoffman. Three of these tales—at once profound, eerie, and funny—were unified in the play by a narrative frame that made Hoffmann the protagonist of his own stories. Each episode recounts a catastrophic love affair, and throughout the opera, Hoffmann is dogged by a diabolical nemesis and accompanied by his faithful friend, Nicklausse.
At 1 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 19, experience Jeanine Tesori’s powerful new opera “Grounded,” commissioned by the Met and based on librettist George Brant’s acclaimed play, which wrestles with the ethical quandaries and psychological toll of 21st-century warfare. Mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo, one of opera’s most compelling young stars, portrays Jess, a hot-shot fighter pilot whose unplanned pregnancy takes her out of the cockpit and lands her in Las Vegas, operating a Reaper drone halfway around the world. As she struggles to adjust to this new way of doing battle, she fights to maintain her sanity, and her soul, as she is called to rain down death by remote control.
The always-popular “Tosca” by Giacomo Puccini returns at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23. Set in Rome on the morning of June 17, 1800, through dawn of the following day, Puccini’s melodrama about a volatile diva, a sadistic police chief, and an idealistic artist has offended and thrilled audiences for more than a century. “Tosca,” one of a handful of iconic works that seem to represent opera in the public imagination, follows the people of Rome who are awaiting news of the Battle of Marengo in northern Italy, which will decide the fate of their symbolically powerful city.
During the holiday season, enjoy a beloved New York City tradition. Mozart’s enchanting musical fairy tale “The Magic Flute,” returns at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, in the Met’s abridged, English-language production by Julie Taymor—the Tony Award–winning director of Broadway’s “The Lion King.” With dazzling puppets and a colorful setting, the Met’s Magic Flute is one of the city’s ultimate seasonal sensations for family audiences.
Giuseppe Verdi’s “Aida,” the grandest of grand operas, will be shown at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 25. It features an epic backdrop for what is in essence an intimate love story. Set in ancient Egypt and packed with magnificent choruses, complex ensembles, and elaborate ballets, “Aida” never loses sight of its three protagonists. Few operas have matched “Aida” in its exploration of the conflict of private emotion and public duty, and perhaps no other has remained to the present day so unanimously appreciated by audiences and critics alike.
The unusual structure, glorious score, and life-affirming aura of Beethoven’s “Fidelio,” showing at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 15, make it a unique experience. It has been called a hymn to freedom and human dignity. Its uplifting spirit made it the obvious choice for several important productions marking the end of World War II. The powerful and innovative use of the orchestra found throughout Fidelio is not surprising from Beethoven, who creates hierarchies among his characters, from the earthly to the exalted, which are instantly recognizable in their music.
At 1 p.m. Saturday, April 26, experience a profoundly humane comedy, “Le Nozze di Figaro,” a remarkable marriage of Mozart’s music at the height of his genius and one of the best librettos ever set. The first impression is one of tremendous beauty and elegance. Dig a little deeper, and find all the underlying pain and deception, with a constant tension between the social classes and the sexes, where each character has something to gain and something to hide.
The story of Richard Strauss’ “Salome,” showing at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 17, an incendiary and powerful opera, is derived from a brief biblical account: A young princess of Judea dances for her stepfather Herod and chooses as her reward the head of the prophet John the Baptist. Claus Guth, one of Europe’s leading opera directors, gives the biblical story—already filtered through the beautiful and strange imagination of Oscar Wilde’s play—a psychologically perceptive, Victorian-era setting rich in symbolism and subtle shades of darkness and light.
“The Met: Live in HD” closes its season with Gioachino Rossini’s effervescent comedy, “Il Barbiere di Siviglia,” at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 31. Its buoyant good humor and elegant melodies have delighted the diverse tastes of every generation for two centuries, and several of the opera’s most recognizable tunes have entered the world’s musical unconscious, most notably the introductory patter song of the swaggering Figaro, the titular barber of Seville. The paradox of Rossini’s music is that the comedy can soar only with disciplined mastery of vocal technique.
“The Met: Live in HD” at Munson is sponsored by Elizabeth R. Lemieux, Ph.D. “The Met: Live in HD” series is made possible by a generous grant from its founding sponsor, Neubauer Family Foundation. Digital Support is provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies. “The Met: Live in HD” series is supported by Rolex. For more information on each performance and to purchase tickets, visit munson.art/metlive.
