The Met Live in HD: La Sonnambula (Bellini) – with Pre-Opera Talk
Playing as an encore only - Saturday, November 1st at 1PM
Pre-Opera Talk by Dr. Morton Achter @ 11:45 AM
Following each performance, there will be a brief “post-opera” discussion.
New Production
Following triumphant Live in HD performances in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Verdi’s La Traviata, and Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Nadine Sierra summits another peak of the soprano repertoire as Amina, who sleepwalks her way into audiences’ hearts in Bellini’s poignant tale of love lost and found. In his new production, Rolando Villazón—the tenor who has embarked on a brilliant second career as a director—retains the opera’s original setting in the Swiss Alps but uses its somnambulant plot to explore the emotional and psychological valleys of the mind. Tenor Xabier Anduaga co-stars as Amina’s fiancé,
Elvino, alongside soprano Sydney Mancasola as her rival, Lisa, and bass Alexander Vinogradov as Count Rodolfo.
Pre-Opera Talk:
Although Bellini composed only ten operas during his relatively short lifetime, many of his works remain staples of the international repertory. La sonnambula is based on a scenario for a ballet-pantomime written by Eugène Scribe, a supplier of libretti for numerous 19th-century French and Italian operas. Bellini’s present work has been variously described as “genius at its purest,” or as a very silly opera. Which is it?
Dr. Morton Achter:
This is the sixteenth season of The Met: Live in HD for which Morton Achter, a resident of Topsham and formerly of New Harbor, will present a series of pre-opera talks prior to selected broadcasts at the Lincoln Theater. A retired professor, Dr. Achter has taught about, produced, and directed opera and other stage genres for over sixty-five years at the professional, college and community levels. Educated at the Eastman School of Music and M.I.T., and holding a Ph.D. in music and theater history from the University of Michigan, locally he has directed productions for the Lincoln County Community Theater, River Company, Round Top Center for the Arts, and Bath’s Chocolate Church Arts Center. He has served on the Board of Directors for Midcoast Senior College in Brunswick, and has offered music- and theater-related courses for the organization since 2010
Approx. runtime: 3 hours, 15 minutes with one intermission
This live cinema transmission is part of the Met’s award-winning Live in HD series, bringing opera to movie theaters across the globe.
The 2025-26 Schedule is subject to change per The Met Live in HD
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