It’s that time of year when I look at what the Met will be offering in cinemas in the coming season.  Once again they will be offering eight shows and they are a mix of fairly bold, quite interesting and frankly dull.  Here goes…

October 18th: Bellini – La Somnabula.  Rolando Villazon directs a new production which is interesting.  I haven’t seen any of his work as a director so don’t really know what to expect.  It does have Nadine Sierra as Amina which is a big plus.

November 8th: Puccini – La Bohème.  It’s the old Zeffirelli production with a decent cast.  If you live anywhere near an opera house you probably get more opportunities to see this piece live than you need so why go to the cinema?

November 22nd: Strauss – Arabella.  It’s the Schenk production but it does have Rachel Willis-Sørensen in the title role.  She is an excellent Straussian so maybe…

December 13th: Giodarno – Andrea Chénier.  This looks like an entirely literal, traditional production so it rather depends on how one feels about the principals.  To be fair, it doesn’t get much better than Piotr Beczala and Sonya Yoncheva in a piece like this.

January 10th: Bellini –I Puritani.  Another Bellini!  It’s a new production by Charles Edwards about whom I know nothing.  Excellent cast though with Lisette Oropesa and Lawrence Brownlee.

March 21st: Wagner – Tristan und Isolde.  This is much the most interesting offering.  Yuval Sharon directs a new production and he’s certainly the most exciting American opera director (one could argue that’s not a very high bar!).  The cast is exceptional with Lise Davidsen and Michael Spyres as the lovers.  Plus Yannick conducts.

May 2nd: Tchaikovsky – Eugene Onegin.  This is a revival of the Deborah Warner production.  The principal attraction is Asmik Grigorian as Tatyana.  She’ll probably steal the show.  She usually does.

May 30th: Frank/Cruz – El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego.  Apparently this is a magic realist take on the relationship between Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo.  I don’t know either the librettist or the composer but it has Isobel Leonard and Carlos Álvarez and Yannick is conducting so it might be worth a punt.

So, one new opera and three new productions.  Of the four revivals two are ancient and in the “met for tourists” category though casting is decent, as it is across the board.  The only things I can excited about are the Tristan and the new one though the Onegin and Arabella might also be worth a look if you are a fan of either leading lady.