THE MET: LIVE IN HD RETURNS TO THE CLARK WITH STAGINGS OF VERDI, MOZART, ROSSINI, AND MORE
Tickets on Sale Now
For Immediate Release
August 25, 2014
[Digital images available upon request]
WILLIAMSTOWN, MA—The Met: Live in HD returns to the Clark this fall with extraordinary stars, breathtaking music, and visionary interpretations by today’s most celebrated directors and conductors. This Peabody and Emmy Award-winning series features ten live transmissions in the Clark’s auditorium, beginning October 11 with Macbeth and continuing with Le Nozze di Figaro (October 18), Carmen (November 1), Il Barbiere di Seviglia (November 22), Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (December 13), The Merry Widow (January 17), Les Contes d’Hoffman (January 31), Iolanta/Bluebeard’s Castle (February 14), La Donna del Lago (March 14), and Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci (April 25).
Tickets are now available for general admission. Tickets are $25 ($22 for members; $18 students) and may be ordered online at clarkart.edu or by calling 413 458 0524.
Performances include:
Giuseppe Verdi’s Macbeth
Star soprano Anna Netrebko delivers her searing portrayal of Lady Macbeth, the mad and murderous mate of Željko Lučić’s doomed Macbeth, for the first time at the Met. Adrian Noble’s chilling production of Verdi’s masterful adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy also stars Joseph Calleja as the noble Macduff and René Pape as Banquo. Fabio Luisi conducts.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro)
Met Music Director James Levine conducts a spirited new production of Mozart’s masterpiece, directed by Richard Eyre, who sets the action of this classic domestic comedy in a nineteenth-century manor house in Seville, but during the gilded age of the late 1920s. Dashing bass-baritone Ildar Abdrazakov leads the cast in the title role of the clever servant, opposite Marlis Petersen as his bride, Susanna, Peter Mattei as the philandering Count for whom they work, Marina Poplavskaya as the long-suffering Countess, and Isabel Leonard as the libidinous pageboy Cherubino.
Georges Bizet’s Carmen
Richard Eyre’s mesmerizing production of Bizet’s steamy melodrama returns with mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili singing her signature role of the ill-fated gypsy temptress. Aleksandrs Antonenko plays her desperate lover, the soldier Don José, and Ildar Abdrazakov is the swaggering bullfighter, Escamillo, who comes between them. Pablo Heras-Casado conducts the irresistible score, which features one beloved and instantly recognizable melody after another.
Gioacchino Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville)
The Met’s effervescent production of Rossini’s classic comedy—featuring some of the most instantly recognizable melodies in all of opera—stars Isabel Leonard as the feisty Rosina, Lawrence Brownlee as her conspiring flame, and Christopher Maltman as the endlessly resourceful and charming barber, himself. Michele Mariotti conducts the vivid and tuneful score.
Richard Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
James Levine returns to one of his signature Wagner works conducting this epic comedy—back at the Met for the first time in eight years—about a group of Renaissance “master singers” whose song contest unites a city. Johan Reuter, Johan Botha, and Annette Dasch lead the superb international cast in this charming and magisterial celebration of the power of music and art.
Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow
The great Renée Fleming stars as the beguiling femme fatale who captivates all Paris in Lehár’s enchanting operetta, seen in a new staging by Broadway virtuoso director and choreographer Susan Stroman (The Producers, Oklahoma!, Contact). Stroman and her design team of Julian Crouch (Satyagraha, The Enchanted Island) and costume designer William Ivey Long (Cinderella, Grey Gardens, Hairspray) have created an art-nouveau setting that climaxes with singing and dancing grisettes at the legendary Maxim’s. Nathan Gunn co-stars as Danilo and Kelli O’Hara is Valencienne. Andrew Davis conducts.
Jacques Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann)
The magnetic tenor Vittorio Grigolo takes on the tortured poet and unwitting adventurer of the title of Offenbach’s operatic masterpiece, in the Met’s wild, kaleidoscopic production. Soprano Hibla Gerzmava faces the operatic hurdle of singing all three heroines—each an idealized embodiment of some aspect of Hoffmann’s desire. Thomas Hampson portrays the shadowy Four Villains, and Yves Abel conducts the sparkling score.
Peter Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta and Bela Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle
On the heels of her triumphant Met performances in Eugene Onegin, soprano Anna Netrebko takes on another Tchaikovsky heroine in the first opera of this intriguing double bill, consisting of an enchanting fairy tale (Iolanta) followed by an erotic psychological thriller (Bluebeard’s Castle). Netrebko stars as the beautiful blind girl who experiences love for the first time in Iolanta, while Nadja Michael is the unwitting victim of the diabolical Bluebeard, played by Mikhail Petrenko. Both operas are directed by Mariusz Trelinski, who was inspired by classic noir films of the 1940s. Iolanta also stars Piotr Beczala, and Valery Gergiev conducts both operas.
Gioacchino Rossini’s La Donna del Lago
Bel canto superstars Joyce DiDonato and Juan Diego Flórez join forces for this Rossini showcase of vocal virtuosity, set in the medieval Scottish highlands and based on a beloved novel by Sir Walter Scott. DiDonato is the “lady of the lake” of the title, and Flórez is the king who relentlessly pursues her, their vocal fireworks embellishing the romantic plot in this Met premiere production conducted by Michele Mariotti.
Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci
Opera’s most enduring tragic double bill returns in an evocative new production from Sir David McVicar, who sets the action across two time periods but in the same Sicilian village. Marcelo Álvarez rises to the challenge of playing the dual tenor roles of Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana and Canio in Pagliacci. Rae Smith (War Horse) has designed the moodily atmospheric 1900 village square setting of Cavalleria, which transforms to a 1948 truck stop for the doomed vaudeville troupe of Pagliacci. Eva-Maria Westbroek (Cav) and Patricia Racette (Pag) sing the unlucky heroines, and Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi is on the podium.
ABOUT THE CLARK
The Clark Art Institute is one of a small number of institutions globally that is both an art museum and a center for research, critical discussion, and higher education in the visual arts. Opened in 1955, the Clark houses exceptional European and American paintings and sculpture, extensive collections of master prints and drawings, English silver, and early photography. Acting as convener through its Research and Academic Program, the Clark gathers an international community of scholars to participate in a lively program of conferences, colloquia, and workshops on topics of vital importance to the visual arts. The Clark library, open to the public with more than 240,000 volumes, is one of the nation’s premier art history libraries. The Clark also houses and co-sponsors the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art.
The Clark opened its expanded facilities on July 4, 2014, unveiling new and enhanced spaces that accommodate the continued growth of the Institute’s programs. Included in this final stage of the project are the new 42,600-square-foot Clark Center designed by Tadao Ando Architect & Associates, expansion and renovation of the original Museum Building and the ongoing renovation of the Manton Research Center by Selldorf Architects, and a sweeping redesign of the grounds by Reed Hilderbrand Landscape Architecture. The first phase of the campus expansion project was completed in 2008 with the opening of the Lunder Center at Stone Hill, a striking conservation and exhibitions facility also designed by Tadao Ando.
The Clark is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Opening season hours: Galleries open daily from July 4 through October 13, 2014, 10 am to 5 pm (Fridays in July and August until 7 pm). From October 14, 2014 through June 30, 2015: Galleries open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm. Admission is $20 through October 31, 2014 and free year-round for Clark members, children 18 and younger, and students with valid ID. For more information, visit clarkart.edu or call 413 458 2303.
Press contact:
Amanda Powers
The Clark
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413 458 0471