Metropolitan Opera's 2014 Summer Recital Series Begins 6/23

The Metropolitan Opera's two popular series of free summer events, the Summer Recital Series and the Summer HD Festival, will return in 2014. For the sixth consecutive year, the Met will present operatic recitals in parks in all five boroughs, as well as a ten-day outdoor festival at Lincoln Center featuring encore screenings from the Met's popular Live in HD transmissions.

The Met's 2014 Summer Recital Series, presented in collaboration with City Parks Foundation, will feature six free concerts beginning June 23 and concluding July 10. The series begins on Monday, June 23 at SummerStage in Central Park with an 8:00 p.m. recital featuring three Met stars: soprano Amber Wagner, mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, and tenor Russell Thomas, joined by pianist Dan Saunders. The same four artists will perform on Wednesday, June 25 at 7:00 p.m. in Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 1 (Brooklyn).

Four additional recitals, starring soprano Mary-Jane Lee, mezzo-soprano Ginger Costa-Jackson, and baritone Yunpeng Wang, again joined by Saunders, will take place according to this schedule: Tuesday, July 1 at 7 p.m. in Crotona Park (The Bronx); Thursday, July 3 at 7 p.m. in Clove Lakes Park (Staten Island); Tuesday, July 8 at 7 p.m. in Jackie Robinson Park (Manhattan); and Thursday, July 10 at 7 p.m. in Socrates Sculpture Park (Queens). No tickets are required for any of the performances; a complete schedule is below.

The popular Summer HD Festival, which projects encore screenings from the Met's Grammy, Peabody, and Emmy Award-winning Live in HD series on a large screen in Lincoln Center Plaza, returns August 23. The festival, which will once again offer ten consecutive nights of free screenings, runs through September 1. Titles and starting times for the screenings will be announced at a later date. More than 3,100 seats will be available each night, plus space for overflow crowds on the plaza.

"Our recitals in the parks offer a chance to hear some of our hottest young stars, while our late summer HD encore screenings on the façade of the Met recreate recent past glories from our stage-both at unbeatable free ticket prices," said Met General Manager Peter Gelb. "These events are part of our efforts to make opera accessible to the broadest audience."

The Summer HD Festival is made possible by the Ford Foundation. The Met: Live in HD series is made possible by a generous grant from its founding sponsor, The Neubauer Family Foundation. Global corporate sponsorship of The Met: Live in HD is provided by Bloomberg. The Met: Live in HD is produced in association with WNET and PBS.

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