Feature: OPERA ONLINE FOR THE END OF APRIL at Various Opera Websites

It's never going to compete with the thrill of being part of the audience at a one-of-a-kind live performance, but there are a great many possibilities for enjoying filmed live opera performances that can be streamed for free online these days. The most exciting presentation to date is the Metropolitan Opera's At-Home Gala featuring artists singing from their own homes, or where they find themselves on Saturday, April 25 at 1:00 pm New York time.

It will feature more than 40 leading artists performing in a live stream from around the world. Featured Artists will include:
Jamie Barton performing from Georgia (the state); Piotr Beczała, Poland; Joseph Calleja, Malta; Stephen Costello, Anthony Roth Costanzo, and Matthew Polenzani, New York; Christine Goerke, New Jersey. Readers know Brünnhilde has to live where Grane, her steed, can roam. Jonas Kaufmann, will perform in Germany; Quinn Kelsey, Canada; Peter Mattei, Sweden; Anna Netrebko and Yusif Eyvazov, Austria; Lisette Oropesa, Louisiana; Ailyn Pérez and Soloman Howard, Illinois; Anita Rachvelishvili, Georgia (the country); Bryn Terfel, Wales; and Pretty Yende, South Africa.

The Gala will be available for free on the Met's website. General Manager Peter Gelb will host from New York City and and Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin will be online from Montreal. Maestro Nézet-Séguin will accompany on the piano and conduct pre-recorded performances by the Met Orchestra and Chorus. Participation by the orchestra and chorus has been constructed from individual takes made at the homes of each of the musicians during the weeks before the Gala. After the live showing, the gala will continue to be accessible on demand at the Met website until 6:30 pm EDT the following day.

In the meantime, the Metropolitan Opera is offering a new performance on demand each day. Watching the Met's daily offerings is free but for a few shows they do want a credit card number for reference. Rather than reveal my precious number at this precarious time, I turned to other companies and their COVID 19 Quarantine Buffets.

Finnish National Opera (FNO) website: https://oopperabaletti.fi/en/stage24/ has Tosca and Don Giovanni sung in Italian with strong singers who have the kind of resonance that draws opera lovers to theaters like flies to honey. The work of these Finnish artists, particularly tenor Tuomas Katajala as Don Ottavio in the Don Giovanni, is most impressive. Their production of Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress, sung in English starring Steve Davislim, is another gem not to be missed.

Venice's La Fenice offers free opera on the company's YouTube channel. Fans can watch its Il Flauto Magico (The Magic Flute, Die Zauberflöte). Also on YouTube, opera lovers can watch a complete performance of Verdi's I Due Foscari. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tJ6ReivRmo&list=RD8tJ6ReivRmo&start_radio=1&t=7091 Another YouTube delight is Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWFIcsXhCPk from Covent Garden.

The Bavarian State Opera of Munich is streaming Richard Strauss's Die Frau ohne Schatten https://operlive.de/frau-ohne-schatten/ until April 25th. Starting April 18th, Opera San Jose will be streaming it's 2011 production of Mozart's Idomeneo on https://www.operasj.org for free for a month. Los Angeles Opera is offering online free performances of past productions "From the Vault" and "Living Room Recitals" by some of its younger singers who can be viewed live or recorded. https://www.laopera.org/discover/laoathome/. Also in the LA area, Pacific Opera Project has an amusingly raucous English language version of Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio (Die Entfuhrung aus dam Serail) on its website https://www.pacificoperaproject.com/beam-me-up-pop-abduction A bit further north, Opera Santa Barbara is streaming its production of Robert Ward's The Crucible until April 21 when it will be replaced by Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. https://www.operasb.org

Although it may be some time before we can again attend the opera en masse as in the golden ages of the past, there is a great deal of marvelous singing online and many possibilities for music lovers to become familiar with far away theaters they will never enter in person. Staying at home may not be as glamorous as strutting to those red velvet seats on the aisle, but there are novel opportunities online for the observant opera lover.

Photo of LA Opera La Bohème by Cory Weaver. Finnish National Opera Rake's Progress by Heikki Tuuli.

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