It has been announced that five productions from the 2023-2024 season recorded at the Metropolitan Opera (MET), one of the world's largest opera houses in New York, will be broadcast and streamed on WOWOW from March.
Founded in 1883, the MET has always been known for hosting performances by the world's top singers and actively adopting new productions, creating a sensation in the opera world. This season in particular, the MET's challenge to proactively tackle modern issues while pursuing artistic excellence has been a hot topic.
This time, WOWOW will broadcast and stream five selected works, including the MET premiere that will breathe new life into the show, as well as new productions. During the intermissions, the show will also feature footage that can't be seen at the theater, such as interviews with the singers after they've finished singing.
The first broadcast/streaming work will be the MET Premiere of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking. It will be available on WOWOW Live and WOWOW On Demand from 7:30 pm on March 8th. The work is an opera based on the non-fiction book of the same-titled film, which starred Susan Sarandon in an Academy Award for Best Actress. Through the soul-to-soul exchange between a death row inmate who killed a teenage boy and girl and the nun who is by his side, the work asks questions about love, forgiveness, and the death penalty.
The lineup from the second time onwards is "Met premiere of Anthony Davis's "Malcolm X"," "Met premiere of Daniel Catarn's "Florencia in the Amazon"," "New production of Bizet's "Carmen," and "New production of Verdi's "La forza del destino." Details such as broadcast and distribution dates will be announced in due course.
The broadcast and streaming of past MET productions was also announced. The following three works will all be broadcast and streamed on WOWOW Live and WOWOW On Demand: "MET premiere of Cherubini's Medea" (February 12th, 10:45 am), "New production of Wagner's Lohengrin" (the same day, 1:30 pm), and "New production of Giordano's Fedora" (March 6th, 11 pm).
