Bartlett Sher’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia & Julie Taymor’s Magic Flute Return to Big Screen

Julie Taymor’s production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Bartlett Sher’s staging of Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia will both return to the big screen in the theaters around the country this summer, courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera’s The Met: Live in HD series.

Barbiere will be seen at movie theaters on July 29. Tony Award-winner Sher’s production features Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez as Count Almaviva, American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato as Rosina and Swedish baritone Peter Mattei in the title role of the swaggering barber. The opera will be conducted by Maurizio Benini.

Taymor’s staging of Flute will be screened on August 5. This abridged, English-language version is created especially for families. The production takes audiences to a magical world of dancing bears, giant birds, and colorful adventure. This performance was originally presented in December 2006 as the inaugural transmission of The Met: Live in HD series. Conducted by Metropolitan Opera Music Director James Levine, the cast includes Ying Huang as Pamina, Matthew Polenzani as Tamino and Nathan Gunn as the bird catcher Papageno.

For further information, visit www.metoperafamily.org/hdlive.