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Music Historian Jeffrey Engel presents 4 talks on The Metropolitan Opera.

Oct. 3 – Turandot: Several opera composers saved their best or near best for last. It is certainly true for Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot. It is marked by pageantry, adventurous harmonies, rich orchestral sound, one of the most demanding roles for dramatic soprano and a beloved aria that has been sung by every tenor.

Oct. 17 – Manon: Composer Jules Massenet takes on the quintessentially French tale of the beautiful young woman who is incapable of forsaking both love and luxury.

Oct. 31 – Madama Butterfly: A young Japanese geisha who clings to the belief that her arrangement with a visiting American naval officer is a loving and permanent marriage – is one of the defining roles in opera by composer Giacomo Puccini.

Nov. 21 – Akhnaten: Another masterpiece by composer Philip Glass, the pharaoh, the revolutionary ruler who transformed ancient Egypt, with the his wife Nefertiti.
All the above opera talks will coincide with the Met Opera’s live simulcast of each production.