New York Metropolitan Opera

Booking Opens Monday 13th July for Friends. Book in person, or by telephone

The Phoenix is excited to present eight outstanding operas from the New York Metropolitan Opera Season 2009 - 2010.

Enjoy all the colour and excitement of these magnificent productions when they are transmitted live via satellite from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York directly to our cinema screen. Seating is limited for this season to 255 and so The Phoenix is offering priority booking to Friends of the Phoenix for one week only. Tickets will go on general sale on Monday 20th July at 10.30am. These Friends priority bookings are available by telephone 020 8444 6789, in person at the box office or via our online booking website at phoenixcinemaonline.co.uk.

PLEASE NOTE - To book a Friend's ticket online with our new system, you'll need to have a password which, has already been assigned to your Friends number. To retrieve this password, please contact our box office to verify or add your email address, and the password will be automatically sent to you via email.

To avoid disappointment, we recommend you take advantage of the following special Friends offer:

BEST VALUE Friends Full Season Ticket (all eight operas) £110. (Non-Friends will be £170 or £130 concessions)
If you prefer a selection: Friends Half Season Ticket (any four operas) £60. (Non-Friends price: £90, or £70 concessions )
Or for individual tickets: Friends can also book for individual operas at £17.50. (Non-Friends price: £25 or £20 concessions)

The New York Metropolitan Opera screenings present the perfect opportunity to become a Silver (Annual) or Gold (Life) Member of the Phoenix.
* Become a Gold Friend and enjoy the entire season for free, plus a bottle of chilled champagne on each evening, as well as free entry thereafter for all film showings for life. Gold Membership costs £5,000 for up to two people for life.
* Become a Silver Friend and enjoy the entire season for free, as well as free entry to all film showings thereafter for one year. Silver membership costs £300 for one person or £500 for two people for one year.

The Season

Saturday 10 October, 2009, 6.00pm Tosca
Conductor James Levine. Composer Giacomo Puccini.

Saturday 24 October, 2009, 6.00pm Aida
Conductor Daniele Gatti. Composer Giuseppe Verdi.

Saturday 7 November, 2009, 6.00pm Turandot
Conductor Andris Nelsons. Composer Giacomo Puccini.

Saturday 19 December, 2009, 6.00pm Les Contes D’Hoffmann
Conductor James Levine. Composer Jacques Offenbach.

Saturday 9 January, 2010, 6.00pm Der Rosenkavalier
Conductor James Levine. Composer Richard Strauss.

Saturday 16 January, 2010, 6.00pm Carmen
Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Composer Georges Bizet.

Saturday 6 February, 2010, 6.00pm Simon Boccanegra
Conductor James Levine. Composer Giuseppe Verdi.

Saturday 27 March, 2010, 5.00pm Hamlet
Conductor Louis Langrée. Composer Ambroise Thomas. Please note: Due to illness Marlis Petersen will replace Natalie Dessay in the role of Ophelia.

Saturday 1 May, 2010, 6.00pm Armida
Conductor Riccardo Frizza. Composer Gioachino Rossini.

Synopses

Saturday, 10th October, 6pm Giacomo Puccini TOSCA
The opera tells the story of three people—a famous opera singer, a free-thinking painter, and a sadistic chief of police—caught in a net of love and politics. Soprano Karita Mattila, recently seen in last season’s Live in HD presentation of Salome, sings the title role for the first time outside her native Finland. Luc Bondy, acclaimed for his imaginative theater and opera productions, directs. The cast also includes Marcelo Álvarez as Cavaradossi and Juha Uusitalo as Scarpia.

Conductor: James Levine; Production: Luc Bondy; Karita Mattila, Marcelo Álvarez, Juha Uusitalo, Paul Plishka

Running time 3 hour 27 minutes/two intermissions

Saturday, 24th October, 6pm Giuseppe Verdi AIDA
Set in ancient Egypt, Aida is both a heartbreaking love story and an epic drama full of spectacular crowd scenes. A cast of powerful voices and a grand production bring the story to life on the Met stage (and on the HD screen). Violeta Urmana stars in the title role of the enslaved Ethiopian princess, with Dolora Zajick as her rival. Johan Botha plays Radamès, commander of the Egyptian army, and Daniele Gatti conducts. Among the score’s highlights is the celebrated Triumphal March.

Conductor: Daniele Gatti; Production: Sonja Frisell; Violeta Urmana, Dolora Zajick, Johan Botha, Carlo Guelfi, Roberto Scandiuzzi, Stefan Kocán

Running time 3 hours 56 minutes/two intermissions

Saturday, 7th November, 6pm Giacomo Puccini – TURANDOT
Director Franco Zeffirelli’s breathtaking production of Puccini’s last opera is a favorite of the Met repertoire. Maria Guleghina plays the ruthless Chinese princess of the title, whose hatred of men is so strong that she has all suitors who can’t solve her riddles beheaded. Marcello Giordani sings Calàf, the unknown prince who eventually wins her love and whose solos include the famous “Nessun dorma.”

Conductor: Andris Nelsons; Production: Franco Zeffirelli; Maria Guleghina, Marina Poplavskaya, Marcello Giordani, Samuel Ramey

Running time 3 hours 30 minutes /two intermissions

Saturday, 19th December, 6pm Jacques Offenbach – LES CONTES D'HOFFMAN
Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher (South Pacific) directs this new production, returning after the triumph of his Met Barber of Seville. Offenbach’s fictionalized take on the life and loves of the German Romantic writer E.T.A. Hoffmann is a fascinating psychological journey. Met Music Director James Levine conducts a stellar star cast including Anna Netrebko as the tragic Antonia, Elīna Garanča as the ambiguous Nicklausse, and Alan Held as the demonic four villains.

Conductor:James Levine; Production: Bartlett Sher; Kathleen Kim, Anna Netrebko, Ekaterina Gubanova, Elina Garanča, Joseph Calleja, Alan Held

Running time 3 hours/ two intermissions

Saturday, 9th January 2010, 6pm Richard Strauss – DER ROSENKAVALIER
Strauss’s comic masterpiece of love and intrigue in 18th-century Vienna stars Renée Fleming as the aristocratic Marschallin and Susan Graham in the trouser role of her young lover. Music Director James Levine conducts a cast that also includes Kristinn Sigmundsson and Thomas Allen.

Conductor: James Levine; Production: Nathaniel Merrill; Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Christine Schäfer, Eric Cutler, Thomas Allen, Kristinn Sigmundsson

Running time 3 hours / two intermissions

Saturday, 16th January 2010, 6pm Georges Bizet – CARMEN (NEW PRODUCTION)
One of the most popular operas of all time, Carmen “is about sex, violence, and racism—and its corollary: freedom,” says Olivier Award-winning director Richard Eyre about his new production of Bizet’s drama. “It is one of the inalienably great works of art. It’s sexy, in every sense. And I think it should be shocking.” Angela Gheorghiu plays the seductive gypsy of the title in her role debut, opposite Roberto Alagna as the obsessed Don José.

Conductor: Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Production: Richard Eyre; Barbara Frittoli, Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Alagna, Mariusz Kwiecien

4 hours / two intermissions

Saturday, 6th February 2010, 6pm Giuseppe Verdi – SIMON BOCCANEGRA
Four decades into a legendary Met career, tenor Plácido Domingo makes history singing the title role in Verdi’s gripping political thriller, which is written for a baritone. Adrianne Pieczonka, Marcello Giordani, and James Morris are his co-stars in this moving and tragic story of a father and his lost daughter. James Levine conducts.

Conductor: James Levine; Production: Giancarlo del Monaco; Adrianne Pieczonka, Marcello Giordani, Plácido Domingo, James Morris

3 hours 40 minutes / two intermissions

Saturday, 27th March, 5pm Ambroise Thomas – HAMLET
The works of Shakespeare have inspired more operatic adaptations than any other writer’s. Simon Keenlyside and Natalie Dessay bring their extraordinary acting and singing skills to two of the Bard’s most unforgettable characters in this new production of Ambroise Thomas’s Hamlet. For the role of Ophelia, the French composer created an extended mad scene that is among the greatest in opera.

Conductor: Louis Langrée; Production: Patrice Caurier/Moshe Leiser; Marlis Petersen, Jennifer Larmore, Toby Spence, Simon Keenlyside, James Morris

3 hours 45 minutes / one intermission

Saturday, 1st May, 6pm Gioachino Rossini – ARMIDA
This mythical story of a sorceress who enthralls men in her island prison has inspired operatic settings by a multitude of composers, including Gluck, Haydn, and Dvorˇák. Renée Fleming stars in the title role of Rossini’s version, opposite no fewer than six tenors. Tony Award winner Mary Zimmerman returns to direct this new production of a work she describes as “a buried treasure, a box of jewels.”  The fanciful and magical tale, Zimmerman says, “has an epic, enchanted quality and a tremendous visual element.”

Conductor: Riccardo Frizza; Production: Mary Zimmerman; With Renée Fleming, Lawrence Brownlee, Bruce Ford, José Manuel Zapata, Barry Banks, Kobie van Rensburg.

4 hrs 20 / two intermissions.