Ten-Day Summer HD Festival Returns With Screenings of the Met’s Award-Winning Live in HD Productions Beginning August 27 in Lincoln Center Plaza

3000 seats available nightly with no tickets required

August 4, 2011

New York, NY (August 4, 2011)—The Met’s popular free Summer HD Festival returns for the third year beginning on Saturday, August 27 in Lincoln Center Plaza with Donizetti’sDon Pasquale starring Anna Netrebko, conducted by Maestro James Levine. The festival, which more than 40,000 people attended last year, features screenings of acclaimed productions from the Met’s award-winning Live in HD series on ten consecutive nights. This summer’s lineup features three new productions from the 2010-11 season: Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov starring René Pape; John Adams’s Nixon in China directed by Peter Sellars and featuring James Maddalena; and Verdi’s Don Carlo with Roberto Alagna heading an extraordinary cast that includes Marina Poplavskaya, Simon Keenlyside, and Ferruccio Furlanetto. Don Carlo closes out the festival on Labor Day, September 5. The complete schedule is below.

Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis and no tickets are required; more than 3000 seats will be available. There are no rain dates.

The Met’s Summer HD Festival is made possible by The Metropolitan Opera Guild.

The Met: Live in HD series is made possible by a generous grant from its founding sponsor, The Neubauer Family Foundation.

Global corporate sponsorship of The Met: Live in HD is provided by Bloomberg.  The complete schedule follows:

The Met’s Summer HD Festival Schedule

Start times range from 7:15 pm to 8:00 pm.

Saturday, August 27, 8:00 PM: DON PASQUALE 

Anna Netrebko reprises her sensational performance in this sophisticated bel canto comedy, opposite Matthew Polenzani, Mariusz Kwiecien, and John Del Carlo in the title role. Music Director James Levine conducts.  Approximate running time: 134 minutes

Sunday, August 28, 8:00 PM: SIMON BOCCANEGRA

Four decades into a legendary Met career, tenor Plácido Domingo makes history singing the title role in Verdi’s gripping political thriller, which is written for a baritone. Adrianne Pieczonka, Marcello Giordani, and James Morris are his co-stars in this moving story of a father and his lost daughter. James Levine conducts. Approximate running time: 142 minutes           

Monday, August 29, 8:00 PM: IPHIGÉNIE EN TAURIDE 

Susan Graham and Plácido Domingo reprise their starring roles in Gluck’s nuanced and elegant interpretation of this classic Greek myth. Tenor Paul Groves also returns to Stephen Wadsworth’s production, first seen in 2007. Patrick Summers conducts. Approximate running time: 111 minutes

Tuesday, August 30, 8:00 PM: LA RONDINE 

Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna take on the leading roles in Puccini’s rarely heard opera, which returned to the Met for the first time in more than 70 years on New Year’s Eve 2008. Nicolas Joël’s atmospheric production places the action at the time of the opera’s premiere in the 1920s. Approximate running time: 113 minutes

Wednesday, August 31, 7:45 PM: NIXON IN CHINA

John Adams conducts the Met premiere of his groundbreaking 1987 work, in a production by longtime collaborator Peter Sellars, in his Met debut. The opera explores the human truths behind the headlines surrounding President Nixon’s historic 1972 encounter with Communist China. James Maddalena stars in the title role. Approximate running time: 158 minutes

Thursday, September 1, 7:45 PM: CARMEN

This Live in HD presentation of Bizet’s masterpiece, starring Elīna Garanča as the seductive gypsy of the title, drew a record audience for its original transmission. Roberto Alagna is Don José in Olivier Award-winning director Richard Eyre’s hit production, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts in his acclaimed Met debut. Approximate running time: 159 minutes

Friday, September 2, 8:00 PM: LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST  

All-American diva Deborah Voigt sings the title role of the “girl of the golden West” in this centennial run of Puccini’s opera, which had its world premiere at the Met in 1910. Marcello Giordani is bandit-turned lover Dick Johnson, Lucio Gallo sings Sheriff Jack Rance, and Nicola Luisotti conducts. Approximate running time: 141 minutes

Saturday, September 3, 7:15 PM: BORIS GODUNOV

René Pape takes on one of the greatest bass roles in Stephen Wadsworth’s new production. Valery Gergiev conducts Mussorgsky’s epic spectacle that captures the suffering and ambition of a nation, with Aleksandrs Antonenko, Vladimir Ognovenko, and Ekaterina Semenchuk also leading the huge cast. Approximate running time: 193 minutes

Sunday, September 4, 8:00 PM: LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR

Natalie Dessay triumphed as the fragile title heroine of Donizetti’s masterpiece when Mary Zimmerman’s hit production premiered on Opening Night 2007. This past season, she returned to the role of the innocent young woman driven to madness, opposite Joseph Calleja as her lover, Edgardo and Ludovic Tézier as her brother, Enrico. Approximate running time: 142 minutes

Monday, September 5, 7:15 PM: DON CARLO

Nicholas Hytner's acclaimed new production of Verdi's most ambitious opera stars Roberto Alagna in the title role. The dream cast includes Marina Poplavskaya as Elisabeth, Ferruccio Furlanetto as King Philip, and Simon Keenlyside as Rodrigo. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts. Approximate running time: 210 minutes

The Met: Live in HD is produced in association with WNET and PBS.