In New York, THIRTEEN will air the program Thursday, July 7  at 8 p.m. The program was originally seen live in movie theaters on December 11, 2010 as part of the groundbreaking The Met: Live in HD series, which transmits live performances to more than 1500 movie theaters and performing arts centers in 46 countries around the world.

Watch a preview:

Great Performances at the Met is a presentation of THIRTEEN for WNET, one of America’s most prolific and respected public media providers.

The Met’s production of Verdi’s grand opera, in which love, war, politics, and religion intertwine against the backdrop of the Spanish Inquisition, stars Roberto Alagna as the conflicted title character; Marina Poplavskaya as Elisabeth de Valois; Anna Smirnova as the scheming Princess Eboli; Ferruccio Furlanetto as the tormented tyrant Philip II; Simon Keenlyside as the heroic Rodrigo, Marquis of Posa; and Eric Halfvarson as the Grand Inquisitor.

Critics and audiences greeted this new production and its cast with kudos: “You’ve heard about total theater? This is it.” (Variety); “A clear-cut hit… rarely have I seen an opera audience so unanimously satisfied” (Philadelphia Inquirer); and “Music so glorious not one minute seems superfluous” (Bloomberg).

This production uses the five-act Italian version of Don Carlo, which includes the “Fontainebleau Act.” A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet, Hytner’s Don Carlo premiered in London in 2008.

Hytner brought two internationally acclaimed designers to the Met for the first time with Don Carlo: set and costume designer Bob Crowley, the winner of five Tony awards for his Broadway designs, and Tony-winning lighting designer Mark Henderson who has received five Olivier Awards for his work on the London stage.

Great Performances at the Met: Don Carlo was directed for live HD transmission by Gary Halvorson and hosted by soprano Deborah Voigt. Jay David Saks is the music producer. The performance is sung in Italian with English subtitles.

Great Performances is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, public television viewers and PBS.  Corporate support for Great Performances at the Met is provided by Toll Brothers, America’s luxury home builder®. This production of Don Carlo was made possible by a generous gift from Mr. and Mrs. William R. Miller.

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.

Watch a preview of the opera:

With more than 30 years of experience, Eyre is one of the world’s most respected directors of stage and screen. From 1988-1997, he served as artistic director of Britain’s Royal National Theatre. While at the National, Eyre produced more than 100 productions and directed 27 plays, including Guys and Dolls (Olivier, Evening Standard, and Critics Circle Awards for Best Director); Richard III with Ian McKellen, Tom Stoppard’s The Invention Of Love (Evening Standard Award); King Lear with Ian Holm (winner of Evening Standard, Olivier and Critics Circle Awards) which he also directed for BBC TV and WGBH (Peabody Award); Amy’s View with Judi Dench, and Absence of War, which he also directed for BBC TV. Eyre’s film credits include the Oscar-winning Iris, featuring Judi Dench and Kate Winslett, as well as The Ploughman’s Lunch, Stage Beauty, Notes on a Scandal, and most recently The Other Man. On Broadway, he has directed Vincent in Brixton, The Crucible, and the long-running Mary Poppins. He was knighted in 1997. Carmen is Eyre’s third opera production, having previously directed La Traviata for the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, and Le Nozze di Figaro at the Aix-en-Provence Festival. Great Performances at the Met: Carmen is the seventh of 10 productions airing during the 2009-2010 season. The performance is sung in French with English surtitles. Eyre makes his Met Opera debut directing the new production, as does set and costume designer Rob Howell. Peter Mumford designs the lighting; Christopher Wheeldon creates the choreography for the new staging.

Great Performances is funded by the Irene Diamond Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, public television viewers and PBS. Corporate support for Great Performances at the Met is provided by Toll Brothers, America’s luxury home-builder®.

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.

Watch a preview below:

Soprano Gheorghiu and tenor Alagna (“singing with ravishing, tender voices and onstage intimacy,” wrote AP) are the lovers Magda and Ruggero, with tenor Marius Brenciu as Magda’s friend Prunier and veteran Met bass Samuel Ramey as her keeper, the banker Rambaldo. Marco Armiliato conducts.

The glittering new Art Deco production is by Nicolas Joël, with sets by Ezio Frigerio, costumes by Franca Squarciapino and lighting by Duane Schuler. “A beguiling production,” raved The New York Times, “sophisticated, charming and poignant.”

Great Performances at the Met: La Rondine, the seventh of 11 productions airing this season, is sung in Italian with English surtitles; Giuseppe Adami wrote the libretto, after A.M. Willner and Heinz Reichert. The production was transmitted onstage as part of The Met: Live in HD January 10, 2009, and recorded for this telecast. Brian Large directs, with series favorite Renée Fleming as host. Jay Saks is audio producer.

The world’s most popular (and arguably slowest) opera composer, Giacomo Puccini oversaw La Rondine’s premiere in Monte Carlo in 1917. It followed La Fanciulla del West (Girl of the Golden West)) by seven years and preceded Il Trittico by one.

Great Performances is funded by the Irene Diamond Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, public television viewers, and PBS. Corporate support for Great Performances at the Met is provided by Toll Brothers. Special funding for this telecast is provided by the Sybil B. Harrington Endowment Fund.

Visit Great Performances Online at 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.

Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera

Composer: Charles Gounod

Librettists: Jules Barbier and Michel Carré

Production: Guy Joosten

Conductor: Plácido Domingo

Performers: Anna Netrebko (Juliette), Roberto Alagna (Roméo), Marc Heller (Tybalt), Louis Otey (Paris), Charles Taylor (Capulet), Jane Bunnell (Gertrude), David Won (Grégorio), Tony Stevenson (Benvolio), Dean Peterson (Duke of Verona)

Synopsis:
Soprano Anna Netrebko teams up with tenor Roberto Alagna in Charles Gounod’s sensual interpretation of Shakespeare’s timeless love story. Originally premiered in 1867, Gounod’s opera was a triumph in its time, and is still praised today for its remarkable musical take on Shakespeare. Plácido Domingo presides on the conductor’s podium for this tour-de-force presentation.

Opera synopsis courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera

Funding for GREAT PERFORMANCES AT THE MET: “Roméo et Juliette” has been provided by Toll Brothers, the Irene Diamond Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Mr. and Mrs. Sid R. Bass, and PBS.

Related Web Sites

• Anna Netrebko, Soprano
• About Composer Charles Gounod
  
• Plácido Domingo, Conductor