BY DIANE DE BEER
If you haven’t seen any of the current season of the Met Opera Screenings at Ster Kinekor, don’t miss out if it is screened in your city.
The productions are the latest from the Met Opera (as the name suggests), they start off with introductions to the opera and the cast, interviews with some of the participants as well as intervals, (coffee and popcorn breaks) as these are usually long productions.
It is not an inexpensive exercise, but if you think you are seeing some of the best opera the world has to offer, you won’t be sorry.
Sometimes the operas are familiar ones, which would have been performed in this country, other times not.
But even for someone like me who is passionate about the arts, while opera doesn’t feature high on my list of priorities, I have been both intrigued and overwhelmed by this latest season. It’s been both educational and spectacular and I enjoyed every second of the first offerings.
It’s difficult to replicate such huge live productions, but these performances are captured magnificently and for those who like opera or want to know more, it’s a blessing.
The latest two productions are the following:
Piotr Beczała as Andrea Chénier and Sonya Yoncheva as Maddalena in Giordano’s “Andrea Chénier.” Photo: Karen Almond / Met Opera
A scene from Andrea Chénier
Andrea Chénier – Giordano (a revival)
Screening dates: 4 and 6 January 2026
(3h 31min)
Music by Umberto Giordano | Libretto by Luigi Illica
Conductor: Daniele Rustioni
Cast: Maddalena di Coigny (Sonya Yoncheva); Andrea Chénier (Piotr Beczała); Carlo Gérard (Igor Golovatenko)
Giordano’s passionate tragedy stars tenor Piotr Beczała as the virtuous poet who falls victim to the intrigue and violence of the French Revolution. Following their celebrated recent partnership in Giordano’s Fedora in the 2022–23 Live in HD season, Beczała reunites with soprano Sonya Yoncheva as Chénier’s aristocratic lover, Maddalena di Coigny, with baritone Igor Golovatenko as Carlo Gérard, the agent of the Reign of Terror who seals their fates. Met Principal Guest Conductor Daniele Rustioni takes the podium to lead Nicolas Joël’s gripping staging.
Lisette Oropesa as Elvira in Bellini’s I Puritani. Photo: Paola Kudacki and Ken Howard/ Met Opera
I Puritani – Bellini (new production)
Screening dates: 8 and 10 February 2026
(3h 31min)
Music by Vincenzo Bellini/Libretto by Carlo Pepoli
Conductor: Marco Armiliato
Cast: Elvira Walton (Lisette Oropesa); Lord Arturo Talbot (Lawrence Brownlee); Riccardo Forth (Artur Ruciński); Giorgio Walton (Christian Van Horn)
For gorgeous melody, spellbinding coloratura, and virtuoso vocal fireworks, I Puritani has few equals. This is the first new Met production of Bellini’s final masterpiece in nearly 50 years – a striking staging by Charles Edwards, who makes his company directorial debut after many successes as a set designer – arrives in cinemas worldwide. They have assembled a world-beating quartet of stars, conducted by Marco Armiliato, for the demanding principal roles. Soprano Lisette Oropesa and tenor Lawrence Brownlee are Elvira and Arturo, brought together by love and torn apart by the political rifts of the English Civil War, with baritone Artur Ruciński as Riccardo, betrothed to Elvira against her will, and bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as Elvira’s sympathetic uncle, Giorgio.
De Beer Necessities 