CINEMA NOUVEAU PRESENTS THE NEW 2016 / 17 METROPOLITAN OPERA SEASON, INCLUDING SIX NEW PRODUCTIONS
Exclusively at Cinema Nouveau and select Ster-Kinekor theatres countrywide, ten opulent operas, including five new productions, from the Met stage to the big digital screen
NEW SEASON LAUNCHES WITH PRODUCTION OF MOZART’S FAMOUS OPERA, “DON GIOVANNI”
The much-anticipated 2016/17 Live in HD season from The Metropolitan Opera in New York returns to South African cinema screens from November this year. In its eleventh year of The Met: Live in HD being screened on cinemas around the world, including Ster-Kinekor and Cinema Nouveau here, the new season presents ten opulent, full-length operas including five new productions, three of which are new to the series.
All the opera productions will release exclusively at Cinema Nouveau and select Ster-Kinekor theatres, and the season runs from 19 November till June 2017. The season opens on Saturday, 19 November, with the staging of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s famous opera, Don Giovanni, for limited screenings.
The 2016-17 Live in HD season will feature the series’ first broadcasts of Kaija Saariaho’s 2000 opera L’Amour de Loin, which has its Met premiere this season; Verdi’s early Biblical epic Nabucco, starring Plácido Domingo in the title role; and Mozart’s Idomeneo, conducted by Met Music Director James Levine.
In addition to the new productions of Tristan und Isolde and L’Amour de Loin, Live in HD audiences will see the Met’s new stagings of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, starring Diana Damrau and Vittorio Grigolo; Dvořák’s Rusalka, with Kristine Opolais in her first Met performances of her international breakthrough role; and Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, with Renée Fleming as the Marschallin and Elīna Garanča as Octavian.
The South African season launches with Mozart’s Don Giovanni, with Simon Keenlyside in his first Met performances of the rakish title character. It also includes: Verdi’s La Traviata, with Sonya Yoncheva as the doomed Violetta; and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, with Anna Netrebko repeating one of her great triumphs of recent seasons opposite the Onegin of Dmitri Hvorostovsky.
The 2016-17 season’s screening dates are as follows: Mozart’s Don Giovanni from Saturday, 19 November, followed by Wagner’s epic tragedy, Tristan und Isolde on 03 December. The season continues in 2017 with Kaija Saariaho’s L’Amour de Loin (07 January 2017), Verdi’s famous Nabucco (04 February), Charles Gounod’s lush adaptation of Shakespeare’s Roméo et Juliette (11 February), Rusalka by Antonin Dvorak (25 March), Verdi’s popular La Traviata (08 April), Idomeneo by Mozart (24 April), Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin (20 May), and finally, Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier (10 June).
Don Giovanni – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (from Saturday, 19 November 2016)
Simon Keenlyside makes his Met role debut in the title role as the unrepentant seducer in Tony Award-winner Michael Grandage’s staging of Mozart’s masterpiece, Don Giovanni. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi leads the cast that also includes Hibla Gerzmava as Donna Anna, Malin Byström as Donna Elvira, Serena Malfi as Zerlina, Adam Plachetka as Leporello, Matthew Rose as Masetto, Kwangchul Youn as the Commendatore, and Rolando Villazón in his Live in HD debut as Don Ottavio.
Mozart, aided by his ingenious librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte, approached his operatic retelling of the Don Juan myth from a point of view that is neither tragic nor entirely comic, but rather lighthearted, urbane and iconic. Over the course of a night, a day and another night, we follow the title character, Don Giovanni, and his earthy sidekick, Leporello, through a series of encounters that begins with a fatal duet, moves back and forth between the humorous and the sentimental, and ends with the protagonist being dragged down to hell by a vengeful, ghostly reincarnation of the Commendatore. Buoyed by Mozart’s nuanced and insightful score, the opera still rings with psychological truth after more than two centuries. This production places the action in an unnamed Spanish city in the mid-18th century.
This is the most performed opera by Mozart in the Met’s repertory with 548 performances to date, having premiered in the Met’s initial 1883-84 season. Legendary conductors who have led the opera at the Met include James Levine, Gustav Mahler, Alan Gilbert, Fritz Reiner, Tullio Serafiin, George Szell and Bruno Walter.
Don Giovanni releases in Cinema Nouveau theatres at Rosebank Mall (JHB), Brooklyn Mall (PTA), Gateway (DBN) and V&A Waterfront (CT) on Saturday, 19 November at 17:00. The screening on 20 November at 14:30 will also be shown at Ster-Kinekor Bedford (JHB), Garden Route Mall (George) and Somerset (Somerset West). The other screenings are as follows: 22 and 30 November at 11:30; and 29 November at 18:00.
The running time is 3 hours and 22 minutes, with one intermission.
In addition to the production, lovers of opera are invited behind the scenes with the Met’s stars. Singers serve as hosts for the HD series, conducting live interviews with cast and crew members as well as the production teams. They introduce the popular behind-the-scenes features during the intermissions, giving cinema audiences an unprecedented look at what goes into staging an opera at one of the world’s greatest houses.
The Don Giovanni intermission feature, hosted by Joyce DiDonato, includes:
Live interview with Simon Keenlyside, Hibla Gerzmava, Malin Byström, Paul Appleby, Adam Plachetka, Serena Malfi and Matthew Rose
Preview of L’amour de Loin with Susanna Phillips
50th anniversary feature
These grand operas, filmed at the iconic Metropolitan Opera House, feature some of the world’s most talented singers, conductors, composers, orchestra musicians, stage directors, designers, visual artists, choreographers and dancers.
With these exclusive productions, Cinema Nouveau continues to give local audiences the opportunity to witness these spectacular ‘live’ opera productions broadcast on the big screen, in full digital projection, at various sites across South Africa. Past productions have received critical acclaim and gained recognition around the world.
For booking information on Don Giovanni as part of The Met: Live in HD season, visit www.cinemanouveau.co.za or movies.sterkinekor.co.za. Follow us on Twitter @nouveaubuzz and on Facebook at Cinema Nouveau. For information, call Ticketline on 0861-Movies (668 437).
The Met: Live in HD 2016-17 Schedule
The season opens on 19 November with Mozart’s Don Giovanni, followed by Wagner’s epic tragedy, Tristan und Isolde on 03 December. The season continues in 2017 with the series’ first broadcast of Kaija Saariaho’s L’Amour de Loin (07 January 2017), Verdi’s famous Nabucco (04 February), Charles Gounod’s lush adaptation of Shakespeare’s Roméo et Juliette (11 February), Rusalka by Antonin Dvorak (25 March), Verdi’s favourite La Traviata (08 April), Idomeneo by Wolfang Amadeus Mozart (24 April), Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin (20 May), and finally, Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier (10 June).
TRISTAN UND ISOLDE – Wagner (releases on 03 December 2016)
The second production at Cinema Nouveau is a new production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle in his first Live in HD performance. Nina Stemme stars as Isolde—a touchstone role she has sung with major opera companies around the world. Her Tristan is Australian heldentenor Stuart Skelton, who sang Siegmund in the Met’s Ring cycle in 2013. The cast also includes Ekaterina Gubanova as Brangäne and Evgeny Nikitin as Kurwenal (both in Met role debuts), with René Pape reprising King Marke, a role he has sung to acclaim in three previous Met seasons. The staging, by Mariusz Treliński (who directed the 2015 Met double bill of Iolanta and Bluebeard’s Castle) is a co-production with the Festival Hall Baden-Baden, Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera, and China National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) Beijing.
(Approximate running time: 3hrs, 10mins)
