'AIDA' OPENS CCP MET OPERA IN HD SEASON 7

 ITALIAN composer Giuseppe Verdi's Aida opens the seventh season of the CCP Met Opera in HD, special screenings of the latest operatic productions of the Metropolitan Opera in New York through high definition digital technology, on March 10, 2020.

Set in ancient Egypt, the four-act drama brings to life the love triangle between a warrior, an Ethiopian slave and a princess.  Warrior Radamès falls in love with Aida, the Ethiopian slave of Princess Amneris, the king’s daughter. Unbeknownst, the princess has feelings for the warrior.  When the three meet, Amneris jealously senses Radames' feelings for Aida.  An opera about imperial duty and forbidden love, sung in Italian.

Music by Giuseppe Verdi, with libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, soprano Anna Netrebko sings Aida, going toe-to-toe with mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili as Amneris and tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko as Radamès. Maestro Nicola Luisotti takes the podium.

Composer Camille Saint-Saëns's operatic take on the classic story of Samson and Delilah takes the cinema stage on April 21, 2020.  Biblical epic Samson et Dalila stars tenor Roberto Alagna as the heroic Samson who ultimately falls victim to the seductive power of Dalila, portrayed by mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča.  Bass-baritone Laurent Naouri sings the sinister High Priest of Dagon.  Completing the cast are baritone Elchin Azizov as the Philistine king Abimélech and bass Dmitry Belosselskiy as the Old Hebrew.

Darko Tresnjak, the Tony Award–winning director of "A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder," made his debut directing the new Met production of the opera in 20 years.  Sir Mark Elder conducts.

Catch Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata, a tale about a Parisian courtesan who sacrifices all for love, on May 12, 2020.  In his first Live in HD appearance as the Met’s Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Michael Mayer’s richly textured new production, featuring a dazzling 18th-century setting that changes with the seasons.

Soprano Diana Damrau plays the tragic heroine, Violetta, and tenor Juan Diego Flórez returns to the Met for the first time in five seasons to sing Alfredo, Violetta’s hapless lover.  Baritone Quinn Kelsey is Alfredo’s father, Germont, who destroys their love.

Georges Bizet's Carmen is the fourth installment of the Opera in HD season, slated on June 23, 2020.  Set among the Romani people in Seville, Carmen is a gritty tragedy starring the most famous of all operatic vixens.

Mezzo-soprano Clémentine Margaine is opera’s ultimate seductress, opposite tenor Roberto Alagna.  Soprano Aleksandra Kurzak sings Micaëla, alongside bass Alexander Vinogradov as the swaggering bullfighter Escamillo.  Louis Langrée conducts Sir Richard Eyre’s lively production.

Come July 21, 2020, CCP Met Opera in HD presents Gaetano Donizetti's La Fille du Régiment, an operatic comedy that mixes hilarious complications with virtuoso slapstick and wonderful singing.  Libretto by Georges Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jean-François Bayard, it follows Marie, the feisty tomboy raised by a regiment of French soldiers.

Bel canto stars Pretty Yende and Javier Camarena team up for a feast of vocal fireworks on the stage, while baritone Maurizio Muraro is Sergeant Sulplice, with mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe as the outlandish Marquise of Berkenfield.  Enrique Mazzola conducts.

Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmelites closes the seventh season on August 25, 2020.  The Met’s Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads an accomplished ensemble in Poulenc’s devastating modern masterpiece of faith and martyrdom.  Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard is the young Blanche de La Force, opposite Met legend Karita Mattila as the First Prioress.

The CCP Met Opera in HD series is presented by the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the New York Metropolitan

 Opera and the Filipinas Opera Society Foundation Inc., in cooperation with the Ayala Malls Cinemas.

All screenings will be held at Greenbelt 3 Cinema 1, at 6:30 p.m.  Tickets are priced at Php450.  Season subscription will be Php2,400 for six shows.  For more information, call the CCP Film, Broadcast and New Media Division at 8832-1125, local 1702 & 1705.  Or visit the CCP social media accounts and website (www.culturalcenter.gov.ph).

For subscription and ticket reservations, contact CCP Sales and Promotions at 8832-3706 or email ccpsalesandpromo@gmail.  You may also inquire at Greenbelt 3 Cinemas Customer Service Nos. 7757-3861 / 62.