The Met: Live in HD returns to the Rialto Theatre

Live opera broadcasts from around the world will reach the big screen in Limassol this December as the Rialto Theatre resumes its collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera of New York, presenting The Met: Live in HD 2023-24.

Following a disruption of the programme during the past two years, the Rialto Theatre will be hosting the entire repertoire of the Met’s live performances, proposing a combination of timeless classics and contemporary productions. The Rialto Theatre’s audience will have a rare opportunity to watch some of the MET’s finest operas, timeless masterpieces, world-acclaimed performers, exceptional contemporary works and authentic operatic gems on the big screen, transmitted in high definition.

Two live opera broadcasts will be presented next month in Limassol. First, is Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking which will be screened at Rialto Theatre on December 2. Based on Sister Helen Prejean’s memoir about her fight for the soul of a condemned murderer, Dead Man Walking matches the high drama of its subject with Heggie’s poignant music and a libretto by Tony and Emmy Award–winner Terrence McNally. Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes the podium, with mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato starring as Sister Helen. The cast also features bass-baritone Ryan McKinny as the death-row inmate Joseph De Rocher, soprano Latonia Moore as Sister Rose, and mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, who sang Helen Prejean in the opera’s 2000 premiere, as De Rocher’s mother.

On December 23, Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas will be screened. Sung in Spanish and inspired by the magical realism of Gabriel García Márquez, Mexican composer Daniel Catán’s 1996 opera focuses on an opera diva, Florencia Grimaldi, who returns to her native Brazil to perform and search for her lost lover, who has vanished into the jungle. The Met premiere stars soprano Ailyn Pérez as Florencia in a new production by Mary Zimmerman that brings the mystical realm of the Amazon to the Met stage.

Both shows begin at 7.55pm and include subtitles in English. As the New Year arrives, The Met: Live in HD 2023-24 programme is set to continue, bringing more world-acclaimed opera productions from the other side of the world.

The Met: Live in HD 2023-24

Dead Man Walking live opera broadcast. December 2. Florencia en el Amazonas live opera broadcast. December 23. Rialto Theatre, Limassol. 7.55pm. With English subtitles. €15-20. www.rialto.com.cy