The Metropolitan Opera's Saturday Matinee Broadcasts return to CPR Classical every Saturday morning starting Dec. 5, 2020. Due to venue closures across the country, the season will feature encore broadcasts from the Met's vault.
The 2020-21 season is longer than usual this year, running for 27 consecutive Saturdays through June 5, 2021. Remarkable moments from recent and past seasons include the radio broadcast debuts of Anna Netrebko, Leontyne Price, and Franco Corelli, as well as Renée Fleming’s final bow as Strauss’s Marschallin. Plus a 1961 performance of Verdi's “Il Trovatore” featuring Leontyne Price as Leonora.
New this year is the “Listeners’ Choice” performance on February 6, 2021, based on listener voting in Dec. 2020. In addition, all broadcasts will feature new commentary and intermission content from host Mary Jo Heath and commentator Ira Siff, including new artist interviews, special features and the Opera Quiz.
Below is the schedule for operas and start times, as well as the featured singers and conductors.
Upcoming Broadcasts
| Date | Time | Opera |
| Mar. 20 | 11 a.m. | Rossini's “Le Comte Ory” Performance from February 2, 2013. Maurizio Benini; Pretty Yende (Countess Adèle), Karine Deshayes (Isolier), Susanne Resmark (Ragonde), Juan Diego Flórez (Count Ory), Nathan Gunn (Raimbaud), Nicola Ulivieri (Tutor) |
| Mar. 27 | 11 a.m. | Mozart's “Don Giovanni” Performance from March 10, 2012. Andrew Davis; Marina Rebeka (Donna Anna), Ellie Dehn (Donna Elvira), Isabel Leonard (Zerlina), Matthew Polenzani (Don Ottavio), Gerald Finley (Don Giovanni), Bryn Terfel (Leporello), Shenyang (Masetto), James Morris (Commendatore) |
| Apr. 3 | 11 a.m. | Dvořák's “Rusalka” Performance from February 8, 2014. Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Renée Fleming (Rusalka), Emily Magee (Foreign Princess), Dolora Zajick (Ježibaba), Piotr Beczała (Prince), John Relyea (Water Gnome) |
| Apr. 10 | 11 a.m. | Puccini's “La Boheme” Performance from October 2, 2017. Alexander Soddy; Angel Blue (Mimì), Brigitte Kele (Musetta), Dmytro Popov (Rodolfo), Lucas Meachem (Marcello), Duncan Rock (Schaunard), David Soar (Colline), Paul Plishka (Benoit/Alcindoro) |
| Apr. 17 | 11 a.m. | Janáček's “From the House of the Dead” Performance from December 2, 2009. Esa-Pekka Salonen; Stefan Margita (Filka Morozov/Kuzmich), Eric Stoklossa (Alyeya), Peter Mattei (Shishkov), Willard White (Gorianchikov) |
| Apr. 24 | 11 a.m. | Strauss’s “Die Frau ohne Schatten” Performance from November 26, 2013. Vladimir Jurowski; Anne Schwanewilms (Empress), Christine Goerke (Dyer's Wife), Ildikó Komlósi (Nurse), Torsten Kerl (Emperor), Johan Reuter (Barak), Richard Paul Fink (Messenger) |
| May. 1 | 11 a.m. | Donizetti's “Roberto Devereux” Performance from April 16, 2016. Maurizio Benini; Sondra Radvanovsky (Elisabetta), Elīna Garanča (Sara), Matthew Polenzani (Roberto), Mariusz Kwiecien (Duke of Nottingham) |
| May. 8 | 11 a.m. | “Anna Netrebko Puccini Gala” Performance from December 31, 2019. Yannick Nézet-Séguin; “La Bohème” ACT I: Anna Netrebko (Mimì), Matthew Polenzani (Rodolfo), Quinn Kelsey (Marcello), Davide Luciano (Schaunard), Christian Van Horn (Colline), Arthur Woodley (Benoit); “Tosca”, ACT I: Anna Netrebko (Tosca), Yusif Eyvazov (Cavaradossi), Evgeny Nikitin (Scarpia), Patrick Carfizzi (Sacristan); “Turandot”, ACT II: Anna Netrebko (Turandot), Yusif Eyvazov (Calàf) |
| May. 15 | 11 a.m. | Wagner's “Tristan und Isolde” Performance from October 8, 2016. Simon Rattle; Nina Stemme (Isolde), Ekaterina Gubanova (Brangäne), Stuart Skelton (Tristan), Evgeny Nikitin (Kurwenal), René Pape (King Marke) |
| May. 22 | 11 a.m. | Bellini's “I Puritani” Performance from February 18, 2017. Maurizio Benini; Diana Damrau (Elvira Walton), Javier Camarena (Lord Arturo Talbot), Alexey Markov (Riccardo Forth), Luca Pisaroni (Giorgio Walton) |
| May. 29 | 11 a.m. | Verdi's “Otello” Performance from October 17, 2015. Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Sonya Yoncheva (Desdemona), Aleksandrs Antonenko (Otello), Dimitri Pittas (Cassio), Željko Lučić (Iago), Günther Groissböck (Lodovico) |
| Jun. 5 | 11 a.m. | Britten's ”Billy Budd” Performance from March 8, 1997. Steuart Bedford; Philip Langridge (Captain Vere), Dwayne Croft (Billy Budd), James Morris (Claggart), Victor Braun (Mr. Redburn), Julien Robbins (Lt. Ratcliffe), James Courtney (Mr. Flint), Paul Plishka (Dansker) |
Previous Broadcasts
| Date | Time | Opera |
| Dec. 5 | 10:30 a.m. | Prokofiev's “War and Peace” Performance from March 2, 2002. Valery Gergiev; Anna Netrebko (Natasha Rostova), Ekaterina Semenchuk (Sonya), Elena Obraztsova (Mme. Akhrosimova), Gegam Grigorian (Count Pierre Bezukhov), Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Prince Andrei), Vassily Gerello (Napoleon Bonaparte), Samuel Ramey (Field Marshal Kutuzov) |
| Dec. 12 | 11 a.m. | Beethoven's “Fidelio” Performance from April 1, 2017. Sebastian Weigle; Adrianne Pieczonka (Leonore), Hanna-Elisabeth Müller (Marzelline), Klaus Florian Vogt (Florestan), David Portillo (Jaquino), Greer Grimsley (Don Pizarro), Falk Struckmann (Rocco), Günther Groissböck (Don Fernando) |
| Dec. 19 | 11 a.m. | Humperdinck's “Hansel and Gretel” – English-language version Performance from January 6, 2018. Donald Runnicles; Lisette Oropesa (Gretel), Tara Erraught (Hansel), Dolora Zajick (Gertrude), Gerhard Siegel (Witch), Quinn Kelsey (Peter) |
| Dec. 26 | 11 a.m. | Mozart's “The Magic Flute” – Abridged English-language version Performance from December 21, 2010. Erik Nielsen; Susanna Phillips (Pamina), Erika Miklósa (Queen of the Night), Russell Thomas (Tamino), Alan Oke (Monostatos), Nathan Gunn (Papageno), Morris Robinson (Sarastro) |
| Jan. 2 | 11 a.m. | Glass' “Satyagraha” Performance from November 19, 2011. Dante Anzolini; Rachelle Durkin (Miss Schlesen), Richard Croft (M. K. Gandhi), Kim Josephson (Mr. Kallenbach), Alfred Walker (Parsi Rustomji) |
| Jan. 9 | 11 a.m. | Rossini's “Il Barbiere Di Siviglia” Performance from April 26, 2007. Maurizio Benini; Joyce DiDonato (Rosina), Claudia Waite (Berta), Lawrence Brownlee (Count Almaviva), Russell Braun (Figaro), John Del Carlo (Dr. Bartolo), Samuel Ramey (Don Basilio) |
| Jan. 16 | 11 a.m. | Verdi's “La Traviata” Performance from January 18, 2020. Karel Mark Chichon; Aleksandra Kurzak (Violetta Valéry), Dmytro Popov (Alfredo Germont), Quinn Kelsey (Giorgio Germont) |
| Jan. 23 | 11 a.m. | Verdi's “Il Trovatore” Performance from February 4, 1961. Fausto Cleva; Leontyne Price (Leonora), Irene Dalis (Azucena), Franco Corelli (Manrico), Mario Sereni (di Luna), William Wilderman (Ferrando) |
| Jan. 30 | 11 a.m. | Gounod's “Faust” Performance from December 10, 2011. Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Marina Poplavskaya (Marguerite), Michèle Losier (Siebel), Jonas Kaufmann (Faust), Russell Braun (Valentin), René Pape (Méphistophélès) |
| Feb. 6 | 11 a.m. | Listeners’ Choice: Donizetti’s “Lucia Di Lammermoor” Performance from December 8, 1956. Fausto Cleva; Maria Callas (Lucia), Giuseppe Campora (Edgardo), Enzo Sordello (Enrico), Nicola Moscona (Raimondo) |
| Feb. 13 | 11 a.m. | Massenet's “Cendrillon” Performance from April 28, 2018. Bertrand de Billy; Kathleen Kim (La Fée), Joyce DiDonato (Cendrillon), Alice Coote (Le Prince Charmant), Stephanie Blythe (Madame de la Haltière), Laurent Naouri (Pandolfe) |
| Feb. 20 | 11 a.m. | Puccini's “La Rondine” Performance from January 10, 2009. Marco Armiliato; Angela Gheorghiu (Magda), Lisette Oropesa (Lisette), Roberto Alagna (Ruggero), Marius Brenciu (Prunier), Samuel Ramey (Rambaldo) |
| Feb. 27 | 11 a.m. | Strauss' “Der Rosenkavalier” Performance from May 13, 2017. Sebastian Weigle; Renée Fleming (Marschallin), Elīna Garanča (Octavian), Erin Morley (Sophie), Helene Schneiderman (Annina), Matthew Polenzani (A Singer), Alan Oke (Valzacchi), Markus Brück (Faninal), Günther Groissböck (Baron Ochs) |
| Mar. 6 | 11 a.m. | Bizet's “Carmen” Performance from November 1, 2014. Pablo Heras-Casado; Anita Hartig (Micaëla), Anita Rachvelishvili (Carmen), Aleksandrs Antonenko (Don José), Ildar Abdrazakov (Escamillo) |
| Mar. 13 | 11 a.m. | Mozart's “Le Nozze di Figaro” Performance from January 10, 2018. Harry Bicket; Ailyn Pérez (Countess), Nadine Sierra (Susanna), Isabel Leonard (Cherubino), Katarina Leoson (Marcellina), Mariusz Kwiecien (Count), Ildar Abdrazakov (Figaro), Maurizio Muraro (Dr. Bartolo) |
The Met Opera on CPR Classical
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