The Met: Live In HD

The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera’s award-winning series of live high-definition cinema simulcasts, continues the 18th season of world-class opera performances exclusively at select Ster-Kinekor and Cinema Nouveau cinema. And, for the first time, Cape Town audiences at Ster-Kinekor V&A Waterfront will enjoy the live stream from the Met together with audiences around the globe. Each production will then enjoy two screenings at select Ster-Kinekor and Cinema Nouveau cinemas at a later date.

The first production, which released with the first livestream at Ster-Kinekor V&A Waterfront on 05 October, was Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann starring acclaimed South African soprano, Pretty Yende.

The 2024–25 Live in HD season has also featured the Met premiere of Jeanine Tesori’s new opera Grounded, starring mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo; new stagings of Strauss’s Salome by director Claus Guth, with a cast led by another leading South African soprano Elza van den Heever and baritone Peter Mattei, and Verdi’s Aida, with soprano Angel Blue and tenor Piotr Beczała, directed by Michael Mayer.

Screening on 11 and 13 May, Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro features an all-star cast; then, director Bartlett Sher’s beloved take on Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, features opera’s newest star, mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina, returning to the Met after her hit run this season in the new production of Bizet’s Carmen. Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Salome.

“With The Met: Live in HD productions screening in our cinemas, local audiences can experience some of the world’s best-loved operas from The Met’s opulent stage to the big screen The theatre-like setting enables cinemagoers to become an extension of the live production’s audience, making these productions accessible to anyone who enjoys and appreciates world-class opera,” says Lynne Wylie, chief marketing officer at Ster-Kinekor Theatres.

“From its beginning, The Met: Live in HD was created to connect the Met to a global audience,” said Peter Gelb, the Met’s Maria Manetti Shrem General Manager. “We’re glad to see audiences around the world beginning to return to cinemas in larger numbers since the end of the pandemic.”

“What began as an experiment 17 years ago has become a staple experience for opera lovers all over the world. Our 2024-25 season in cinemas reflects how opera is changing at the Met, where we’re balancing timeless classics with accessible new work that is advancing the art form and attracting younger and more diverse audiences.”

Don’t miss these world-class opera productions filmed and transmitted from the Met stage to the big screen at Cinema Nouveau and select Ster-Kinekor cinemas: Eastgate and Rosebank Nouveau in Johannesburg; Brooklyn in Tshwane; Garden Route in George; Somerset in Somerset West; and Blue Route and V&A Waterfront (livestream) in Cape Town.

Mzansi Pulse

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