Don’t miss Norma and Die Zauberflote, productions that will feed your soul!
“This season, we’re replenishing our core repertoire with new productions of Così fan tutte, Norma, and Tosca, while stretching our horizons with The Exterminating Angel and Cendrillon,” Met General Manager, Peter Gelb
“It’s a season of repertory favourites and stimulating rarities, with something for neophytes and aficionados alike.”
If you’re an opera enthusiast, then Ster-Kinekor Cinema Nouveau has two mesmerising productions that will surely strike all the right chords. These operas, presented by Metropolitan Opera Live in HD are not to be missed.
From the exciting season, this month, opera lovers will have an opportunity to embrace Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma, an evocative production set in a Druid forest where nature and ancient ritual rule. Following that on 18 November, is the launch of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, which tells a story set in a mythical land where a prince must rescue a princess being held captive by a High Priest.
Norma (Bellini)
Norma an opera by Vincenzo Bellini, a Sicilian composer whose greatest gift was his extraordinary understanding of the human voice.
The production of Bellini’s bel canto (Italian singing) tragedy Norma stars Sondra Radvanovsky (the Druid priestess) in the title role. Joyce DiDonato co-stars as Norma’s colleague and rival, Adalgisa, opposite Joseph Calleja as Pollione and Matthew Rose as Oroveso. Carlo Rizzi conducts and Sir David McVicar directs the opera.
Norma is regarded as a leading example of the bel canto genre, and the soprano prayer Casta diva is memorable. The visual and sounds capture the mood of the characters and bring to life its setting in the Druid forest. The camera adds brightness to the dark scenes, and the close-ups bring shows McVicar’s personal approach. The unfussy and focused directing of the film makes it a joy to immerse yourself in a story that has as much resonance today as it did with its first production in 1831.
Die Zauberflote (Mozart)
Met Music Director James Levine conducts Tony award-winner Julie Taymor’s production of Mozart’s masterpiece, Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute). Golda Schultz stars Pamina with Kathryn Lewek as the Queen of the Night. Levine leads a dynamic young cast in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute).
The opera in two acts by Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue. Singspiel is a perfect structure for moving seamlessly through moods of the production, ranging from sad to light-hearted.
In the opera, the Queen of the Night persuades Prince Tamino played by Charles Castronovo, to rescue her daughter Pamina from captivity under the high priest Sarastro played by René Pape; instead, he learns the high ideals of Sarastro’s community and seeks to join it. Tamino and Pamina undergo severe trials of initiation, which end in triumph. While Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) is a fairy tale, the emotions it evokes is real and uncompromised.
SCREENING DATES
- Norma will be screened on 4, 5, 7, 14 and 15 November
- Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) will be screened on 18, 19, 21, 28 and 29 November.
All films will show at Cinema Nouveau and select Ster-Kinekor sites: Rosebank Nouveau, Gateway Nouveau, Brooklyn Nouveau and V&A Waterfront Nouveau. At Somerset and Blue Route Mall in Cape Town, Bedford Square in Johannesburg and Garden Route Mall in George.
The 2017-18 Live in HD season will feature the series’ first broadcast of Bellini’s Norma starring Sondra Radvanovsky in the title role, the Met premiere of Thomas Adès’s The Exterminating Angel; Rossini’s Semiramide, which has not been staged at the Met in 25 years; Verdi’s tragedy Luisa Miller starring Sonya Yoncheva and Plácido Domingo; and the Met premiere of Massenet’s Cendrillon, starring Joyce DiDonato in the title role.
In addition to the productions new to Live in HD, audiences can see the Met’s new stagings of Puccini’s Tosca, starring Sonya Yoncheva and Vittorio Grigolo; Mozart’s Così fan tutte set in the 1950s in Coney Island, with an ensemble cast including Tony Award winner Kelli O’Hara. The season, as mentioned above, also features Mozart’s full-length German opera Die Zauberflöte conducted by Met Music Director Emeritus James Levine (the abridged version of The Magic Flute was the first Live in HD transmission in the series); Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, starring South African born Pretty Yende in her first Met performances as the spirited Adina with Matthew Polenzani reprising Nemorino, and Puccini’s La Bohème featuring Sonya Yoncheva and Michael Fabiano as the young Parisian lovers, Mimì and Rodolfo.
Season at a Glance: The Met: Live in HD 2017-18
The Exterminating Angel (16 December 2017.)
Tosca (24 February 2018)
L’Elisir d’Amore (10 March 2018)
La Bohème (24 March 2018)
Semiramide (07 April 2018)
Così fan tutte (28 April 2018)
Luisa Miller (12 May 2018)
Cendrillon (26 May 2018).
Bookings are now open
For more information and to make bookings feast your eyes on all three mesmerizing productions, visit the website at www.sterkinekor.com or download the SK App. You can also book at the box office. For news and updates, go to Facebook page: Ster-Kinekor and follow Ster-Kinekor on Twitter: @sterkinekor. For all queries, call Ticketline on 0861 Movies (668 437).
