Picturehouse Blog

First launched in 2006, The Met: Live in HD has brought the cream of the iconic opera company to the world's biggest screens, taking audiences beyond the front row and onto the stage itself. Now in its 20th-anniversary season, the initiative has presented both beloved classics and innovative modern works, providing the perfect introduction to the passion and power of opera, all performed by leading stars in the most imaginative productions. 

The 2026–27 season kicks off in high style. Twenty Years of the Met in Cinemas: An Anniversary Celebration (September 19) showcases two decades of onstage magnificence as experienced in cinemas. Hosted by operatic superstar Renée Fleming, the programme will feature unforgettable moments from The Met: Live in HD series, highlighting the stellar talents of stars ranging from Lise Davidsen to Jonas Kaufmann to Nadine Sierra and, of course, Fleming herself. As a primer for the joys of opera, it is second to none.  

October brings Mozart's Così fan tutte (October 3), a sparkling satire of young love as two men hatch a plan to test the fidelity of their girlfriends. Seasoned with seduction, trickery, and deceit, Phelim McDermott's "colorful, inventive" (The New York Times) staging sets the hilarious hijinks at a 1950s boardwalk amusement park, the perfect metaphor for the emotional rollercoaster of the story. Overflowing with gorgeous melodies perfectly interpreted by soprano Federica Lombardi (Fiordiligi), mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey (Dorabella), tenor Duke Kim (Ferrando) and baritone Andrey Zhilikhovsky (Guglielmo), it's a heady, intoxicating treat. 

The Met: Live in HD season also brings two Shakespearean masterpieces from Giuseppe Verdi. Macbeth (October 17) is a thrilling take on the immortal tragedy, starring baritone Quinn Kelsey as the haunted Scottish king opposite Lise Davidsen—the world's reigning dramatic soprano—as the power-mad Lady Macbeth. Perhaps the ultimate Italian opera, Otello (April 24) stars tenor Brian Jagde as the outsider shaped by jealousy in a work that is intellectually profound and theatrically thrilling. Taken together, this Verdi double bill represents a not-to-be-missed dramatic tour de force. 

Camille Saint-Saëns's Samson et Dalila (December 5) is an epic take on the biblical hero of legendary strength (tenor Clay Hilley) and the seductive Philistine (mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina) whose beauty overpowers him. Told on the biggest scale by a massive orchestra and chorus, this larger-than-life spectacle makes The Odyssey look like a home movie. Equally wide screen is Giacomo Puccini's La Fanciulla del West (January 23), which whips up the tropes of a Western—a tavern owner with a heart of gold (Vida Miknevičiūtė), a dashing bandit (SeokJong Baek), and a lawman hellbent on delivering justice (Christopher Maltman)—into an action-packed adventure. 

As well as revitalising the classics, The Met: Live in HD  also shines a light on the most exciting modern works. Kevin Puts's Pulitzer Prize–winning Silent Night (March 20) is an evocative dramatisation of the truce between opposing soldiers in the trenches of WWI. Tender and touching, this is also opera at its most immersive and cinematic—the multilingual libretto by Mark Campbell is based on the film Joyeux Noël—giving the audience a front-row seat in the theatre of war.  

Jules Massenet's Manon (April 3) is a delightful character study of the alluring heroine, played by radiant soprano Nadine Sierra, described by The New York Times as having "high notes that spun like liquid gold." It's a drama full of passion and heart, played out in a breath-taking Belle Époque staging by director Laurent Pelly. 

The 2026–27 season ends with a big bang. Parsifal (June 5), Richard Wagner's final opera, is a transcendent rendering of a medieval knight's heroic quest for the Holy Grail. Mixing mythic grandeur with psychological complexity, it is brought vividly to life in François Girard's striking celebrated production. The Met's Music Director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conducts a cast of Wagnerian heavyweights, led by tenor Piotr Beczała in the title role. The result, like the rest of the The Met: Live in HD Season, is the musical journey of a lifetime. 

 Ian Freer  

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The Met: Live in HD Season is in cinemas from 19 September — Book Now!