GP at The Met: The Enchanted Island - About the Opera | Great Performances

GP at the Met: The Enchanted Island

About the Opera

The Enchanted Island, a world premiere work that combines Baroque music with a new, English-language libretto featuring characters from Shakespeare’s The Tempest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and a starry cast including Danielle de Niese, Joyce DiDonato, David Daniels, Plácido Domingo, and Luca Pisaroni, will air on THIRTEEN’s Great Performances at the Met Friday, May 18 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). In New York, THIRTEEN will air the program at the same time with an encore presentation Sunday, May 20 at 12:30 p.m.

Watch a preview:

The program was originally seen live in movie theaters on January 21 as part of the groundbreaking The Met: Live in HD series, which transmits live performances to more than 1700 movie theaters and performing arts centers in 54 countries around the world.

Great Performances at the Met is a presentation of THIRTEEN for WNET, one of America’s most prolific and respected public media providers. For nearly 50 years, WNET has been producing and broadcasting national and local arts programming to the New York community.

Devised and written by the acclaimed British theater artist Jeremy Sams in his Met debut, The Enchanted Island is conducted by renowned Baroque specialist William Christie and seen in a fantastical production by director Phelim McDermott and scenic designer Julian Crouch that blends 18^th-century theatrical techniques with advanced video projection designs.

The Enchanted Island is a contemporary take on the 18^th-century tradition of operatic “pasticcios” (pastiches), in which new librettos were combined with music from various compositions to create entirely new theatrical pieces. The tradition was particularly popular in London, where Handel was a prominent practitioner. The score for The Enchanted Island comprises selections from a variety of Baroque operas, cantatas, and oratorios, many of which are rarely performed in contemporary opera houses.

DiDonato stars as the sorceress Sycorax and Daniels is her supernatural foe, the sorcerer Prospero; Domingo is Neptune, god of the seas; de Niese is the air spirit Ariel; Lisette Oropesa is Prospero’s daughter Miranda; Anthony Roth Costanzo is the shipwrecked prince Ferdinand; and Pisaroni is Sycorax’s monstrous son Caliban.

The score includes music from many Handel works, including operas (e.g. Alcina, Ariodante, Partenope, and Semele, Tamerlano, and Teseo); oratorios (Hercules and Judas Maccabaeus); and cantatas (e.g. “Tanti strali al sen mi scocchi” and “Notte placida e cheta”); and more. The other works represented in The Enchanted Island are by Vivaldi, Rameau, Ferrandini, Campra, Purcell, Rebel, and Leclair.

Sams, a noted stage director, writer, translator, composer, and lyricist, has created an English-language libretto for The Enchanted Island that combines the plots of two Shakespeare plays. In Sams’s story, the bitter supernatural war between The Tempest’s Prospero and his nemesis, the sorceress Sycorax, is interrupted by a quartet of unexpected island visitors: the four lovers from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, whose honeymoon cruise has ended in a shipwreck. The ensuing conflicts and romantic entanglements also involve Prospero’s daughter Miranda, Sycorax’s grotesque son Caliban, the shipwrecked prince Ferdinand, the air spirit Ariel, and Neptune, king of the undersea world.

Renowned Baroque specialist Christie made his Met debut last season leading Mozart’s Così fan tutte. His adventurous explorations into the Baroque repertory, particularly with his ensemble Les Arts Florissants, have earned him an international reputation as a consummate musician and historian.

DiDonato’s most recent Met appearances were as the Composer in last season’s revival of Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos and as Isolier in the Met premiere of Le Comte Ory. Daniels’s Met starring roles have included Orfeo in the new production of Orfeo ed Euridice (2007 and 2011), Bertarido in the Met premiere of Handel’s Rodelinda (2004), both Sesto and the title character in Handel’s Giulio Cesare, and Oberon in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Since his debut in 1968, Domingo has sung more than 600 Met performances in an ever-expanding repertory.

De Niese, a frequent collaborator with Maestro Christie, made her Met debut as Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro in 1999. Earlier this season, Pisaroni sang Leporello in the new production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Oropesa’s Met appearances have included Lisette in the new production of Puccini’s La Rondine (2008), Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Amore in Orfeo ed Euridice, and the Rhinemaiden Woglinde in the 2010 new production of Wagner’s Das Rheingold. Costanzo, a 2009 National Council Grand Finals winner, makes his Met debut this season as Unulfo in Rodelinda.

The four Midsummer lovers are sung by Layla Claire (Helena), Elizabeth DeShong (Hermia), Paul Appleby (Demetrius), and Elliot Madore (Lysander, in his Met debut).

The New York Times dubbed the work, at its premiere, “fanciful, clever, and touching,” while Associated Press found it “irresistibly entertaining…with enough fizz to send a dozen champagne corks popping.”

Soprano Deborah Voigt hosts. Barbara Willis Sweete directs the telecast.

Great Performances is funded by Vivian Milstein, the Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, and Annaliese Soros. Corporate support for Great Performances at the Met is provided by Toll Brothers, America’s luxury home builder®.

Visit Great Performances online at www.pbs.org/gperf for additional information on this and other Great Performances programs.

For the Met, Mia Bongiovanni and Elena Park are Supervising Producers, and Louisa Briccetti and Victoria Warivonchik are Producers. Peter Gelb is Executive Producer. For Great Performances, Bill O’Donnell is Series Producer; David Horn is Executive Producer.

Tags: baroque, Danielle de Niese, David Daniels, Joyce DiDonato, Luca Pisaroni, Opera, performance, Plácido Domingo, Shakespeare

michelle

I saw it twice in HD. Fabulous opera and fabulous cast. Would watch it over and over. Please bring it to Mountain Lake PBS.
R O’Neill

I saw the Island, the Great Show as I call it, five times at the Met. Lucky me! I hope it comes over well on the TV. It was the best thing I had seen in many years. Enjoy!
Renata Caravaggio

Am LOVING The Enchanted Island…fantastical, wonderful voices, sets and totally entertaining. Thank you!
Saundra

Am currently watching via Mountain Lake PBS and am truly ENCHANTED! Thank You PBS
Arlette Lowery

Just finished watching it on PBS. A truly magnificent performance. Joyce di Donato and Danielle de Niese were my favorites. They have such wonderful voices! The piece was very original and I wish I could have seen it in person!
Charlene Noland

Bravo to the Met for such an ingenious undertaking, and thank you PBS for such Great Performances!
Elaine Grosso

Just stumbled on it tonight on PBS. Outstanding production; a delight in every way. thanks for bringing it to my part of the world
Virginia Handy

Just discovered that late night operas seen from 2 a.m. are sometimes repeated on Saturday at 4 p.m.! I’ve seen The Tempest (Wayne State Univ. production in the l950s) before, and was surprised that this Ariel was
not flying through the air but did have wings. So glad I caught the whole opera today – Saturday!
I also discovered captions by clicking the cc button on my remote control. The best of everything -
front row center! Thank you, PBS.
Barbara Zevin

Can you tell me a little about the falsetto voices of Prospero and Ferdinand?
Honor Treadaway

The Enchanted Island is wonderfully enchanting, delightful, magnificnt! Would love to see it again and again. Thank you to the Met for the production and excellent cast, and to PBS for airing it twice on APT. Special thanks to the cast and orchestra for their most excellent musicianship and care in making it so much of a joy for us to hear and see. Also thanks to the scenic and costume designers for such awesome details that added so much. Wow!
Heather Thompson

I was wondering if there were a way to purchase a copy of this somewhere? My 5-year-old daughter loved it so much she’s still talking about it! It was magical, truly unbelievable voices.
Six43

Very pleasantly surprised!
Corey Thornton

Really enjoyed The Enchanted Island. Would be interested in purchasing a DVD or CD if/and/when it becomes available.
Ricky Jimenez

I received The Enchanted Island and Rodelinda in stereo sound. In the past I received Met broadcasts in Dolby 5.1 surround. sound, but no longer. Has anybody else noticed this?
Robert Perschmann

The high definition broadcast on Twin Cities Public TV was magnificent. The broadcast quality was mostly stunning with some less than perfectly focused distant scenes. The entire Met production was dazzling. What freak’n fun. This show is a perfect promotional program to introduce people to opera, and for that matter, to baroque itself, not to mention arts on TV. If this does not turn heads… what, what on earth would? And, there is no shortage of the usual greatness of opera as art here. I loved every single aspect of this thing. Characters who annoyed me… were doing their job. The interviews at the end, by Deborah Voigt were stunning… every second. I wanted to hug everyone… especially Voigt. What? Is America capable of the biggest, greatest, most artistic TV experience in the world? Yes. Why can’t we have lots more? Number one… we have to have the technology in place. We do. We have incredible PBS… rolling. We have great video artists and technicians… rolling. We have the Met! What’s the problem? Why can we not promote a national schedule? Why does my local PBS affiliate broadcast opera in standard definition, more than in HD? Why can’t I talk to someone at my PBS affiliate about HD arts? Why don’t more opera lovers seek HD opera on TV? Why don’t we have a lot more arts on TV in HD?

Here is part of the answer: The local affiliates do not necessarily have staff people who appreciate HD… or opera. Opera fans are not necessarily big TV users. Opera fans definitely are too distracted to be interested in HD TV unless someone gets their attention. We have to work on fixing this. Yes… fixing implies spending money. Of course public TV needs money. I think there is anti-arts politics having its way with public broadcasting. There is a political party that hates the idea of taxes paying for arts. I say that arts is an instrument that can bring joy to every living human. US arts have been going down hill, during my lifetime, for the past 50 years. Art makes the citizens of other countries more happy and productive people. We can do it too. Review… I think that the main problem is we are not thinking about nurturing Americans with art. We need an arts conscience. Local public TV stations need to do a better job of listening to the public. Yes, they got the idea that we have a couple million people who love Lawrence Welk. Apparently those guys contribute more than arts fans. We need some very sharp people like Deborah Voigt… no, not Ms Voigt herself, to sell arts for TV in HD. We need arts sales people to make arts big. No, I don’t think HD opera in the movie theater is the answer. Most of the people are at home… that is where the arts must go. Jeez, do not miss Enchanted Island in HD. Blu-ray please. Note: Apple TV offers many full 1080p operas. If you don’t know what 1080p is, you could have fun finding out. -Robert Perschmann Minnesota
Robert Perschmann

I think that all full HD broadcasts have 5.1 surround sound included. I think that local stations determine the conditions for their broadcasts. My local station does a lot of standard def. and I just don’t use it.
jean williams

To me it was a shock to hear a man singing in a woman’s voice. I tuned in to PBS late because I had spent the afternoon at a ballet, so I saw only the last scene of the opera, and couldn’t believe what I heard. I was put off by the music: not only the male soprano(?), but the lack of melody. There are many operas I love, but I didn’t love what I saw of this one. I can’t believe that someone suggested it as a way to introduce opera to people who’ve never seen it or learned to like it. “Carmen” or “Aida” offer just as much spectacle and a lot more enjoyable music.
mary nilan

You may know this but now there is a DVD available of “Enchanted Island”

In This Episode