Tinseltown to broadcast series of eight live operas

NEW YORK — The second season of “Metropolitan Opera: Live in High Definition” kicks off worldwide at 1 p.m. Dec. 15 with the first of the Met’s eight live opera transmissions: Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette,” starring Anna Netrebko and Roberto Alagna, conducted by Plácido Domingo.

Cinemark’s Tinseltown theater in Boardman has been added to the list of more than 600 venues in North America, Australia, Europe and Japan that will broadcast the full season of performances.

Tickets are $22 ($20 for seniors; $15 for children). To purchase tickets, or for more information, go to metopera.org/hdlive or call (800) 638-6737. 

The series will continue with a New Years Day presentation of Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel,” starring Christine Schäfer and Alice Coote in a new English-language production by Richard Jones, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.

Met Music Director James Levine conducts three of the operas in the series: Verdi’s “Macbeth,” starring Maria Guleghina in a new production directed by Adrian Noble (1:30 p.m., Jan. 12); Puccini’s “Manon Lescaut,” starring Karita Mattila and Marcello Giordani (1 p.m., Feb. 16); and Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde,” starring Deborah Voigt and Ben Heppner (12:30 p.m., March 22).

The series also includes new Met productions of Britten’s “Peter Grimes,” starring Anthony Dean Griffey and Patricia Racette, directed by John Doyle and conducted by Donald Runnicles (1:30 p.m., March 15), and Donizetti’s “La Fille du Régiment,” starring Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Flórez in a new production directed by Laurent Pelly and conducted by Marco Armiliato (1:30 p.m., April 26). Angela Gheorghiu and Ramón Vargas star in Franco Zeffirelli’s iconic production of Puccini’s “La Bohème,” conducted by Nicola Luisotti (1:30 p.m., April 5).