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