Fathom Events presents The Met: Live in HD transmission of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, starring American soprano Nadine Sierra and French tenor Benjamin Bernheim, on Saturday, March 23, at 12:55PM ET

Published by Fathom Events on Mar 22, 2024 2:43 PM

Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the star-studded cast, also featuring mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey, tenor Frederick Ballentine, baritone Will Liverman, and bass-baritone Alfred Walker

DENVER (March 22, 2024)—The Metropolitan Opera’s revival of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette will be transmitted live to theaters nationwide as part of the 2023–24 The Met: Live in HD season on Saturday, March 23, at 12:55PM ET.

Two singers at the height of their powers—radiant soprano Nadine Sierra and tenor sensation Benjamin Bernheim—take on the star-crossed lovers in Gounod’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragic romance for the first time at the Met. Sierra, with a voice described as “crystalline … [and] bright” (The Wall Street Journal), returns to the Met following her performances as Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata last season. This will be Bernheim’s Live in HD debut, following his critically acclaimed company debut last season as the Duke of Mantua in Verdi’s Rigoletto—when he was praised as “a lyric tenor who roars on top with genuinely thrilling, auditorium-filling sound” (The New York Times). Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Met’s Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director, conducts one of the repertoire’s most romantic scores.

The production also features mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey as Stéphano and baritone Will Liverman as Mercutio. Hankey sang the role of Octavian in Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier last season, which The New York Times named one of the performances of the year. Liverman returns to the Met stage after starring as Malcolm in Anthony Davis’s X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X earlier this season. Rounding out the principal cast are tenor Frederick Ballentine as Tybalt and bass-baritone Alfred Walker as Frère Laurent. Tony Award–winning director Bartlett Sher’s production of Roméo et Juliette was last seen live in HD in the 2016–17 season. The creative team includes set designer Michael Yeargan, costume designer Catherine Zuber, lighting designer Jennifer Tipton, choreographer Chase Brock, and fight director B. H. Barry.

Fathom Events will also present two encores of Roméo et Juliette on Wednesday, March 27, at 1:00PM and 6:30PM local time.

Tickets for Roméo et Juliette are on sale through the Fathom Events website and participating theater box offices. For a complete list of theater locations, visit FathomEvents.com (participating theaters are subject to change).

The Stars of Roméo et Juliette

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor; Montreal, Canada

Nadine Sierra, Juliette; Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Samantha Hankey, Stéphano; Marshfield, Massachusetts

Benjamin Bernheim, Roméo; Paris, France

Frederick Ballentine, Tybalt; Norfolk, Virginia

Will Liverman, Mercutio; Chicago, Illinois

Alfred Walker, Frère Laurent; New Orleans, Louisiana

Press Quotes

“A glorious Benjamin Bernheim and Nadine Sierra in the title roles … Sierra and Bernheim were a dream … Sierra was luscious, lovely and free throughout her range … with a magnificent series of high notes that spun like liquid gold … Bernheim, every bit the poet-singer, put a succulent sound to elegant use, with transitions between vocal registers that had a buttery seamlessness.” —The New York Times CRITIC’S PICK

“The Metropolitan Opera scored another resounding success with a rapturous Roméo et Juliette starring the near-ideal pairing of Nadine Sierra and Benjamin Bernheim … [Bernheim’s] hypnotically besotted “Ah, Lève-toi, soleil” sung to Juliette’s window gave notice that his was no fleeting infatuation … [Sierra’s] voice, throbbing with resolve, effortlessly filled the huge opera house … the pair’s four duets served up such intimate enchantment that people will be talking about them for years.” —Observer

More Information

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The 2023–24 Live in HD season continues with La Rondine (live on April 20, with encores on April 24) and Madama Butterfly (live on May 11, with encores on May 15). All performances will be Saturday matinees transmitted live from the Met stage.

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Contact:

Colette Carey [email protected]