The Met: Live in HD's 2013-14 Season Features 10 Live Transmissions, Beg. Today

The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's award-winning series of live transmissions to movie theaters, will feature 10 productions in the 2013-14 season, offering a significant portion of the Met season to opera lovers around the world.

Met Music Director James Levine returns to the podium, leading a new production of Verdi's Falstaff (December 14), directed by Robert Carsen, and the first Live in HD performance of Mozart's Così fan tutte (April 26).

The series opens today, October 5 with Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, starring Anna Netrebko, Mariusz Kwiecien, and Piotr Beczala in a new production conducted by Valery Gergiev and directed by Deborah Warner, and also includes William Kentridge's innovative production of Shostakovich's The Nose, starring Paulo Szot (October 26); Puccini's classic drama Tosca, with Patricia Racette as the tempestuous title character and Robert Alagna as her devoted lover (November 9); Renée Fleming in one of her signature roles, the title character in Dvo?ák's Rusalka, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin (February 8); a new production of Borodin's rarely heard epic Prince Igor, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda, directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov in his Met debut, and starring Ildar Abdrazakov in the title role (March 1); Jonas Kaufmann and El?na Garan?a in a new staging by Richard Eyre of Massenet's tragic romance Werther (March 15); Puccini's timeless love story La Bohème, with Vittorio Grigolo starring in Franco Zeffirelli's immensely popular production (April 5); and Joyce DiDonato and Juan Diego Flórez in Rossini's Cinderella story La Cenerentola, led by Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi (May 10).

"We have chosen a wide sampling of the best of our new season for the opera lovers around the world to enjoy locally," said Met General Manager Peter Gelb. "Our commitment to making opera accessible and affordable continues."

The Met: Live in HD, the world's leading provider of alternative cinema content, is now shown in more than 1,900 theaters in 64 countries, making the Met the only arts institution with an ongoing global art series of this scale. The Met was the first arts company to experiment as an alternative content provider, beginning on a modest scale in 2006. Since then, its program has grown every season, with more than 12 million tickets sold to date.

Met opera stars serve as hosts for the HD series, conducting live interviews with cast, crew, and production teams, and introducing the popular behind-the-scenes features; altogether the worldwide HD audience is given an unprecedented look at what goes into the staging of an opera at one of the world's great houses.

Tickets for the 10 transmissions in the 2013-14 Live in HD season will go on sale in August in the U.S. and Canada, with Met Members offered priority before tickets are made available to the general public. International ticket sales dates and details on ordering tickets for the 2013-14 Live in HD series vary from country to country and will be announced separately by individual distributors.

The Met: Live in HD 2013-14 Schedule
(with complete casting and production information)

Eugene Onegin - Tchaikovsky - October 5, 2013 at 12:55 p.m. ET
New Production
Conductor: Valery Gergiev
Production: Deborah Warner
Set Designer: Tom Pye
Costume Designer: Chloe Obolensky
Lighting Designer: Jean Kalman
Video Designers: Finn Ross & Ian William Galloway
Choreographer: Kim Brandstrup
Cast: Mariusz Kwiecien (Eugene Onegin), Anna Netrebko (Tatiana), Oksana Volkova (Olga), Piotr Beczala (Lenski), Alexei Tanovitsky (Gremin)

The Live in HD season begins October 5 with acclaimEd English director Deborah Warner's new production of Tchaikovsky's romantic tragedy Eugene Onegin, conducted by Valery Gergiev. Anna Netrebko opens her third consecutive Met season in her company role debut as Tatiana, the naïve heroine from Pushkin's classic novel. Mariusz Kwiecien portrays the self-confident title character, in a much-admired interpretation he has sung in many of the world's leading opera houses, and Piotr Beczala reprises his acclaimed performance as Onegin's friend-turned-rival, Lenski. Reviewing Warner's production, the Sunday Telegraph praised its "mixture of haunting visual and emotional impact: cutting straight to the heart of the work, [Warner] shows how Onegin is simultaneously about two colliding Russian societies-rustic provincialism and cosmopolitan decadence-and three wasted lives."

The Nose - Shostakovich - October 26, 2013 at 12:55 p.m. ET
Conductor: Pavel Smelkov
Production: William Kentridge
Set Designer: William Kentridge & Sabine Theunissen
Costume Designer: Greta Goiris
Lighting Designer: Urs Schönebaum
Cast: Paulo Szot (Kovalyov), Andrey Popov (Police Inspector), Alexander Lewis (The Nose)

William Kentridge's dazzlingly innovative production of Shostakovich's shocking, unconventional opera about a beleaguered Russian official and his runaway nose returns to the Met for the first time since its sold-out 2010 premiere. Pavel Smelkov conducts a cast led by Paulo Szot as the hapless Kovalyov, with Andrey Popov as the menacing Police Inspector and Alexander Lewis as Kovalyov's peripatetic nose.

Tosca - Puccini - November 9, 2013 at 12:55 p.m. ET
Conductor: Riccardo Frizza
Production: Luc Bondy
Set Designer: Richard Peduzzi
Costume Designer: Milena Canonero
Lighting Designer: Max Keller
Cast: Patricia Racette (Tosca), Roberto Alagna (Cavaradossi), George Gagnidze (Scarpia), John Del Carlo (Sacristan)

Patricia Racette portrays the tempestuous diva Floria Tosca in Luc Bondy's production of Puccini's enduring favorite. Roberto Alagna sings Tosca's lover, the painter Cavaradossi, and George Gagnidze is the corrupt, lustful Scarpia. Riccardo Frizza conducts Puccini's sweeping, dramatic tale of murder, lust, and political intrigue.

Falstaff - Giuseppe Verdi - December 14, 2013 at 12:55 p.m. ET
New Production
Conductor: James Levine
Production: Robert Carsen
Set Designer: Paul Steinberg
Costume Designer: Brigitte Reiffenstuel
Lighting Designer: Robert Carsen and Peter Van Praet
Cast: Ambrogio Maestri (Falstaff), Lisette Oropesa (Nannetta), Angela Meade (Alice Ford), Stephanie Blythe (Mistress Quickly), Jennifer Johnson Cano (Meg Page), Paolo Fanale (Fenton), Franco Vassallo (Ford)

Verdi's brilliant final masterpiece Falstaff has its first new Met production in nearly 50 years, conducted by James Levine and directed by Robert Carsen. Ambrogio Maestri sings the iconic basso buffo role of Sir John Falstaff, the boorish, blustery character originally seen in Shakespeare's Henry IV and Merry Wives of Windsor. Angela Meade is Alice Ford, one of many objects of Falstaff's affection, and Stephanie Blythe is the sharp-tongued Mistress Quickly in a cast that also includes Lisette Oropesa as Nannetta, Jennifer Johnson Cano as Meg Page, Paolo Fanale in his Met debut as Fenton, and Franco Vassallo as Ford. The International Herald Tribune praised Carsen's staging, first seen at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, as a "production of eye-catching ingenuity."

Rusalka - Dvo?ák - February 8, 2014 at 12:55 p.m. ET
Conductor: Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Production: Otto Schenk
Set Designer: Günther Schneider-Siemssen
Costume Designer: Sylvia Strahammer
Lighting Designer: Gil Wechsler
Choreographer: Carmen de Lavallade
Cast: Renée Fleming (Rusalka), Emily Magee (Foreign Princess), Dolora Zajick (Ježibaba), Piotr Beczala (Prince), John Relyea (Water Sprite)

Renée Fleming sings her first Live in HD performance of one of her signature roles, the lovelorn mermaid Rusalka, in Dvo?ák's sumptuously melodic opera. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts a cast that also includes Piotr Beczala as the handsome Prince Rusalka yearns to love; Dolora Zajick as the cackling swamp witch Ježibaba; Emily Magee as the Foreign Princess, Rusalka's rival; and John Relyea as Rusalka's father, the Water Sprite.

Prince Igor - Alexander Borodin - March 1, 2014 at 12:00 p.m. ET
New Production
Conductor: Gianandrea Noseda
Production: Dmitri Tcherniakov
Set Designer: Dmitri Tcherniakov
Lighting Designer: Gleb Filshtinsky
Cast: Ildar Abdrazakov (Prince Igor Svyatoslavich), Oksana Dyka (Yaroslavna), Anita Rachvelishvili (Konchakovna), Sergey Semishkur (Vladimir Igorevich), Mikhail Petrenko (Prince Galitsky), Štefan Kocán (Khan Konchak)

Alexander Borodin's epic Prince Igor has its first Met performances since 1917 in a new production staged by noted Russian opera director Dmitri Tcherniakov in his Met debut. Gianandrea Noseda conducts the lush score, famous for its celebrated "Polovtsian Dances," and Ildar Abdrazakov sings the title role of a 12th-century Russian hero. The cast also includes Oksana Dyka in her Met debut as Yaroslavna, Igor's emotionally fragile second wife; Anita Rachvelishvili as the fiery Polovtsian princess Konchakovna; Sergey Semishkur in his Met debut as Vladimir Igorevich, Igor's son and Konchakovna's lover; Mikhail Petrenko as Prince Galitsky; and Štefan Kocán as the warlord Khan Konchak.

Werther - Jules Massenet - March 15, 2014 at 12:55 p.m. ET
New Production
Conductor: Alain Altinoglu
Production: Richard Eyre
Set & Costume Designer: Rob Howell
Lighting Designer: Peter Mumford
Video Designer: Wendall Harrington
Choreographer: Sara Erde
Cast: Jonas Kaufmann (Werther), Lisette Oropesa (Sophie), El?na Garan?a (Charlotte), David Biži? (Albert), Jonathan Summers (Le Bailli)

Director Richard Eyre returns to the Met with a new staging of Massenet's tragic romance Werther, starring Jonas Kaufmann and El?na Garan?a in their first Met performances as the brooding poet Werther and his unattainable love, Charlotte. Lisette Oropesa sings the role of Sophie, Charlotte's sister; David Biži? makes his Met debut as Charlotte's fiancé, Albert; and Jonathan Summers is Charlotte's father, Le Bailli. Alain Altinoglu conducts the first new Met production of the opera in more than forty years.

La Bohème - Puccini - April 5, 2014 at 12:55 p.m. ET
Conductor: Stefano Ranzani
Production: Franco Zeffirelli
Set Designer: Franco Zeffirelli
Costume Designer: Peter J. Hall
Lighting Designer: Gil Wechsler
Cast: Anita Hartig (Mimì), Susanna Phillips (Musetta), Vittorio Grigolo (Rodolfo), Massimo Cavalletti (Marcello), Patrick Carfizzi (Schaunard), Oren Gradus (Colline), Donald Maxwell (Benoit/Alcindoro)

An exciting young cast stars in Franco Zeffirelli's classic production of La Bohème, the most-performed opera in Met history. Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo stars as the passionate writer Rodolfo, and Romanian soprano Anita Hartig makes her Met debut as his consumptive lover, Mimì. Susanna Phillips sings the flirtatious Musetta and Massimo Cavalletti is the painter Marcello in this performance, led by rising conductor Stefano Ranzani.

Così fan tutte - Mozart - April 26, 2014 at 12:55 p.m. ET
Conductor: James Levine
Production: Lesley Koenig
Designer: Michael Yeargan
Lighting Designer: Duane Schuler
Cast: Susanna Phillips (Fiordiligi), Isabel Leonard (Dorabella), Danielle De Niese (Despina), Matthew Polenzani (Ferrando), Rodion Pogossov (Guglielmo), Maurizio Muraro (Don Alfonso)

James Levine conducts the first Live in HD performance of Mozart's barbed romance Così fan tutte. Lesley Koenig's sleek production will star Susanna Phillips and Isabel Leonard as the sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella; Matthew Polenzani and Rodion Pogossov as their fiancés, Ferrando and Guglielmo; Danielle De Niese as their feisty maid Despina; and Maurizio Muraro as the cynical Don Alfonso.

La Cenerentola - Rossini - May 10, 2014 at 12:55 p.m. ET
Conductor: Fabio Luisi
Production: Cesare Lievi
Designer: Maurizio Balò
Lighting Designer: Gigi Saccomandi
Choreographer: Daniela Schiavone
Cast: Joyce DiDonato (Angelina), Juan Diego Flórez (Don Ramiro), Pietro Spagnoli (Dandini), Alessandro Corbelli (Don Magnifico), Luca Pisaroni (Alidoro)

Joyce DiDonato sings her first Met performances of the title character in Rossini's Cinderella story, La Cenerentola, with bel canto master Juan Diego Flórez as her dashing prince. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi leads a cast that also includes Pietro Spagnoli in his Met debut as the servant Dandini, Alessandro Corbelli as Cenerentola's stepfather Don Magnifico, and Luca Pisaroni as Don Ramiro's tutor, Alidoro.

Pictured: Gioachino Rossini's LA CENERENTOLA - A scene from Act 2 of Rossini's "La Cenerentola." Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi leads Joyce DiDonato and Juan Diego Flórez in the Live in HD performance on May 10, 2014. Photo by Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera.