Summer HD Festival Returns With Free Screenings of the Met’s Live in HD Productions

The Met's popular Summer HD Festival returns for its fourth year on August 25, with ten free outdoor screenings of acclaimed performances from the Met's award-winning Live in HD series. The festival, which more than 40,000 people attended last year, kicks off with a screening of the Met's recent world premiere hit The Enchanted Island, a Baroque pastiche which stars David Daniels, Joyce DiDonato, and Plácido Domingo.

Three other new productions from the Met's 2011-12 season will be screened in this year's festival: Mozart's Don Giovanni, starring Mariusz Kwiecien, conducted by Fabio Luisi, and directed by Michael Grandage, on August 26; Gounod's Faust, starring Jonas Kaufmann, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and directed by Des McAnuff, on August 31; and, on the final night of the festival (Monday, September 3), the Met premiere production of Donizetti's Anna Bolena, starring Anna Netrebko, conducted by Marco Armiliato, and directed by David McVicar. The festival will feature a variety of operas from past Live in HD seasons, including Rossini's comic gem Le Comte Ory, starring Juan Diego Flórez in the title role and Philip Glass's extraordinary opera about the life of Gandhi, Satyagraha, in a visually spectacular production by Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch. All screenings take place in Lincoln Center Plaza and start times vary; the complete schedule is below.

Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis and no tickets are required; more than 3000 seats will be available each evening. There are no rain dates.
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 complete schedule follows:

The Met's Summer HD Festival Schedule
Start times range from 7:30 pm to 8:00 pm.

Saturday, August 25, 7:30 PM: THE ENCHANTED ISLAND
This world-premiere Baroque fantasy combines music by Handel, Vivaldi, and Rameau with a new libretto inspired by Shakespeare. Conducted by William Christie, directed by Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch, and starring Danielle De Niese, Lisette Oropesa, Joyce DiDonato, David Daniels, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Plácido Domingo, and Luca Pisaroni. Approximate running time: 180 minutes

Sunday, August 26, 7:30 PM: DON GIOVANNI
Michael Grandage's new production of one of opera's supreme masterpieces stars Mariusz Kwiecien in the title role. Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi leads the Met Orchestra and a cast that also includes Marina Rebeka, Barbara Frittoli, Mojca Erdmann, Ramón Vargas, and Luca Pisaroni. Approximate running time: 173 minutes

Monday, August 27, 8:00 PM: LA SONNAMBULA
Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Florez deliver bel canto fireworks in Mary Zimmerman's inventive production of Bellini's opera, which places the action in a contemporary rehearsal room where a production of La Sonnambula is being prepared. Evelino Pidò conducts. Approximate running time: 137 minutes

Tuesday, August 28, 7:45 PM: SATYAGRAHA
Philip Glass's landmark opera, whose Sanskrit title translates as "truth force," explores Mahatma Gandhi's formative years in South Africa. The visually extravagant production, starring Richard Croft, is directed and designed by Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch and conducted by Dante Anzolini. Approximate running time: 165 minutes

Wednesday, August 29, 8:00 PM: SALOME
Karita Mattila gives a tour-de-force performance as the title heroine of Strauss's powerful drama, based on Oscar Wilde's play. Juha Uusitalo is Jochanaan in the Met's striking production, conducted by Patrick Summers. Approximate running time: 106 minutes

Thursday, August 30, 7:45 PM: LA CENERENTOLA
Rossini's charming Cinderella story is ideally served by an extraordinary cast, led by El?na Garan?a in the title role, Lawrence Brownlee as her prince, and Alessandro Corbelli as Don Magnifico. Maurizio Benini conducts a production that also stars Simone Alberghini and John Relyea. Approximate running time: 162 minutes

Friday, August 31, 7:30 PM: FAUST
Jonas Kaufmann, Marina Poplavskaya, and Rene Pape bring Gounod's retelling of the Faust legend to dramatic life in director Des McAnuff's new production, which updates the story to the dawn of the nuclear age. Yannick Nézét-Séguin conducts. Approximate running time: 177 minutes

Saturday, September 1, 8:00 PM: LE COMTE ORY
Bartlett Sher's Met premiere production of Rossini's vocally dazzling comedy features a trio of bel canto stars: Juan Diego Florez in the title role, Diana Damrau as Countess Adele, and Joyce DiDonato in the trouser role of the page Isolier. Maurizio Benini conducts. Approximate running time: 141 minutes

Sunday, September 2, 8:00 PM: IL TROVATORE
David McVicar's acclaimed 2009 production stars four extraordinary Verdi singers: Sondra Radvanovsky is Leonora, Marcelo Álvarez is Manrico, Dmitri Hvorostovsky sings Count di Luna, and Dolora Zajick is Azucena. Marco Armiliato conducts. Approximate running time: 142 minutes

Monday, September 3, 7:30 PM: ANNA BOLENA
Anna Netrebko stars as the ill-fated queen in David McVicar's Met premiere production, which opened the 2011–12 season. Ekaterina Gubanova is her rival, Jane Seymour, Ildar Abdrazakov sings Henry VIII, and Stephen Costello is Lord Percy. Marco Armiliato conducts. Approximate running time: 180 minutes

The Met: Live in HD is produced in association with WNET and PBS.