Giuseppe Verdi
Macbeth
Live in HD
Two of opera’s most extraordinary artists return to The Met: Live in HD for Verdi’s thrilling take on the immortal Shakespearean tale of the scheming couple determined to seize power at any cost. Following past triumphs in many of Verdi’s signature baritone roles, Quinn Kelsey is the Scottish king haunted by the ghosts of his murderous ascent to the throne, opposite Lise Davidsen—the world’s reigning dramatic soprano—as the power-mad Lady Macbeth, whose ruinous ambition damns them both. Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes the podium for a penetrating production by Louisa Proske, a brilliant young director making waves around the world. Rounding out the all-star cast are tenor Freddie De Tommaso as the heroic Macduff and bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green as Macbeth’s friend-turned-victim Banquo. This live cinema transmission is part of The Met: Live in HD series, bringing opera to movie theaters across the globe.
English StreamText captioning is available for the Met’s transmission of Macbeth here. A transcript of the transmission will also be available to view after the live performance.
Buy tickets for Macbeth live in the opera house here.
Production a gift of The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation and Gwendolyn and Austin Fragomen
Production supported by Rolex
Additional support from the Hermione Foundation, Laura Sloate, Trustee
Sung In
Italian
Estimated Run Time
3 hours 30 min
World Premiere: Teatro della Pergola, Florence, 1847. Revised version: Théâtre Lyrique, Paris, 1865. Verdi’s opera is a powerful musical interpretation of Shakespeare’s timeless drama of ambition and its personal cost. Raising questions of fate, superstition, guilt, and power, it marks an important step on the composer’s path from his more conventional earlier efforts to the integrated musical dramas of his mature years.
Creators
Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901) composed 26 operas during his 60 active years in the theater, at least half of which are at the core of today’s opera repertory. Francesco Maria Piave (1810–76), one of the two librettists for Macbeth, collaborated with the composer on ten works, while additional portions of the opera’s libretto were provided by Verdi’s friend Count Andrea Maffei (1798–1885), a cosmopolitan literary amateur who introduced the work of many great foreign writers, including those of Shakespeare (1564–1616), to Italians.
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composer
Giuseppe Verdi
Production
Louisa Proske
SET DESIGNER
Jon Bausor
COSTUME DESIGNER
Montana Levi Blanco
LIGHTING DESIGNER
Adam Silverman
CHOREOGRAPHER
Jorrell Lawyer-Jefferson
Action Director
Ran Arthur Braun
C. Graham Berwind, III Chorus Director
Tilman Michael
Setting
The historical “Macbeth” (Mac Bethad mac Findlaích) was king of Alba from 1040 to his death in 1058, but Shakespeare departs so far from history that the facts are of little concern. This new production of Macbeth blends Elizabethan imagery with contemporary elements to explore the opera’s portrayal of an authoritarian ruler’s rise and its human cost.
Music
The score of Macbeth features little of the melodic abundance that made Verdi famous. In fact, the composer went out of his way to avoid making this score too pretty, insisting that the drama was not served by lyricism. Lady Macbeth, as the true protagonist of the story, has the most commanding of the great solos, and her famous sleepwalking scene in Act IV is a study of guilt unlike any other.
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