The next New York Metropolitan Opera film for this season is their first broadcast double bill of rarely performed operas, Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta.
Polish film director, Mariusz Trelinski, makes his Met debut with the two operas, drawing inspiration from ’40s classic noir films. Valery Gergiev conducts the double bill, which is a co-production with Teatre Wielki-Polish National Opera.
This is the first time Iolanta has been performed at The Met and there are very few recordings of this opera available. This was the last opera Tchaivosky wrote, and he drew his inspiration from the Danish play King René’s Daughter, which was a romanticised account of the life of Yolande de Bar.
The one-act opera is about a blind girl who experiences love for the first time.
Soprano Anna Netrebko sings the title role. Piotr Beczala and Aleksei Markov are Vaudémont and Robert, the two rivals for her love. It also stars Alexei Tanovitski as King René, Iolanta’s father, and Azerbaijani baritone Elchin Azizov in his Met debut as the physician Ibn-Hakia.
Bluebeard’s Castle is performed in its original Hungarian and tells the story of newlywed Judith (sung by Nadja Michael) who opens seven locked doors to discover the depths of her husband’s dark secrets. Mysterious and menacing Bluebeard is played by Mikhail Petrenko.
The running time of this production is about 219 minutes with one intermission between the two operas.
• The double bill: Sat, March 31 at 5pm; Sun at 2.30pm; Tues, April 1 at 11.30am and April 2 at 5.30pm.