After an unfortunate hiatus, The MET Live in HD returns to Durango on Oct. 22 in the Student Union at Fort Lewis College. The company will livestream the matinee performance of “Medea,” by Luigi Cherubini, at 10:55 a.m. from the Metropolitan Opera stage in New York City.
“COVID threw a wrench into things,” said Charles Leslie, director of the Community Concert Hall at FLC. “After the interruption shut down of both the Metropolitan Opera and the Concert Hall due to the pandemic, Fort Lewis College welcomes back The Met Live in HD.”
Last year, COVID-19 and contract snafus prevented FLC from transmitting the award-winning program. Local, vocal opera fans made it known the international, livestreamed program was important: Bring it back. Leslie made it happen.
Now in its 16th year, The MET Live in HD will feature 10 performances transmitted from the Met stage in high-definition cinema simulcasts into the comfortable Vallecito Room at the college. Season subscriptions and single tickets are available through www.durangoconcerts.com.
“Medea,” Cherubini’s searing tragedy opens the program as it opened the Met’s season last Sept. 27. Reviews praised the Met premiere, and commented on both its “savage drama” and powerful Maria Callas legacy. The New York Times’ Zachary Woolfe noted Medea’s late entrance, 40 minutes in, as “the ultimate wedding crasher.”
In fact, Cherubini’s 1797 opera begins with a wedding – not Medea’s. She’s the scorned woman out for revenge, and her fickle husband’s second marriage is the cause of her murderous rage.
Some backstory helps: Medea is the crazy woman from Greek mythology who links up with Jason, the handsome Argonaut man-hero. Embittered by his half-brother stealing his kingdom, Jason (Giasone in the Italian-language opera) vows revenge by stealing the Golden Fleece to return home in triumph. On his travels, he meets Medea, a princess known to be obsessive about everything, especially everything Jason. She helps him steal the magical fleece by removing (murdering) obstacles, such as her brother and uncle. When Medea, Jason and their two children eventually arrive in Corinth, he abandons them for a better deal – a beautiful, politically advantaged princess. Medea’s anger boils over, and that’s where Cherubini’s version begins – at a Corinthian court wedding. Be prepared for a lot of destruction, misery and blood when Medea unleashes her fury.
The Italian-born composer migrated to Paris primarily for a pedagogical career. His French-language “Médée” premiered 1797, inspired by the original Greek myth, Euripides’ play, which introduced the idea of murdered children, and Pierre Corneille’s tragedy. At first, the opera had trouble finding an audience. Cherubini excised spoken dialogue, a French preference, and translated the whole into Italian. “Medea” still languished. Then in the 20th century, Maria Callas resuscitated the opera and made it her signature. Her ghost hovers over every production.
Here’s the 2022-23 schedule for The MET Live in HD:
Fifteen years ago, the Metropolitan Opera Co. introduced movie-theater screenings of matinee performances for audiences around the world. Durango joined The MET Live in HD first at Stadium 9 cinema. A few years into the program, a small group of opera lovers lobbied to move it to Fort Lewis College. From the outset, the Met preferred movie theaters to build audiences.
In 2012, a small brigade of opera fans met with Charles Leslie, then managing director of the Community Concert Hall at FLC, to move The Met Live in HD to the college. Leslie supported the effort and outlined steps needed to make the transfer. The group included Jim Foster, this journalist, the late Ann Flatten and the late Sandy Max. Leslie developed a plan starting with negotiating a new Met contract along with upgrading FLC streaming technology, then enhancing the Vallecito Room to be a quasi-movie theater with blackout curtains.
The local effort worked. The Met finally agreed to the changes and signed new contracts. Since 2012, local opera audiences have grown from fewer than 30 at Stadium 9 to an average or more than 100 for the Saturday-morning performances today. Popular operas like “Carmen” or “Butterfly” sell out at over 130 seats.
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.