“A taut drama about passion, obsession and pursuit… with Mr Eyre’s fiercely precise directing and the riveting performances of tenor Jonas Kaufmann as the unhappy Werther and mezzo Sophie Koch —making her house debut—as Charlotte, the woman he loves. The dark, resonant timbre of [Kaufmann’s] tenor gives him weight; its swordlike directness makes him unstoppable. Every moment has the exact vocal color it needs.”— The Wall Street Journal

The highly successful Season VII of Live in HD from The Metropolitan Opera in New York, launched exclusively at Cinema Nouveau and select Ster-Kinekor theatres in November last year. The season runs through to June this year, and features ten magnificent productions.

During April, two glorious productions will be screened at Cinema Nouveau and select Ster-Kinekor cinemas: Jules Massenet’s Werther, which releases on 05 April, and the ever-popular La Bohème from the pen of Puccini, from 26 April, both for a limited season.

Tenor Jonas Kaufmann sings the title role in a new production of Massenet’s tragic romance Werther opposite French mezzo-soprano Sophie Koch, who makes her Met debut as Charlotte in this new staging by Richard Eyre and conducted by Alain Altinoglu. Kaufmann plays the role of the tortured poet opposite Koch’s Charlotte, the object of Werther’s unrequited love, in this Met Opera production that releases on Saturday, 05 April on the big screen in South Africa.

Richard Eyre, whose hit production of Bizet’s Carmen premiered at the Met in 2010, returns to direct the new staging, with a cast that also includes Lisette Oropesa as Sophie, Serbian bass-baritone David Bižić in his Met debut as Albert, and Jonathan Summers as Le Bailli. The production features sets and costumes by Tony Award winner Rob Howell, lighting design by Peter Mumford, video design by Wendall Harrington, and choreography by Sara Erde in her Met debut.

Jonas Kaufmann has sung the role of Werther to acclaim with Paris Opera in 2010 and with the Vienna State Opera in 2011, both times opposite Sophie Koch as Charlotte. In recent seasons at the Met, his starring roles have included the title characters in new productions of Wagner’s Parsifal and Gounod’s Faust and Siegmund in a new production of Wagner’s Die Walküre. He made his Met debut in 2006 as Alfredo in Verdi’s La Traviata. His subsequent roles with the company have included Tamino in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Don José in Bizet’s Carmen, and Cavaradossi in Puccini’s Tosca. Last season, Kaufmann became the first Met artist since Luciano Pavarotti to perform a solo recital on the Met stage.

“Mr Kaufmann is ideal in the role. He sings with dark colorings, melting warmth, virile intensity and powerful top notes” – The New York Times

Sophie Koch is one of the world’s leading interpreters of Charlotte, having sung the role with Paris Opera; the Vienna State Opera; Madrid’s Teatro Real; the Royal Opera, Covent Garden; and, last season, Lyric Opera of Chicago. Her other performances this season include Adriano in Wagner’s Rienzi at the Salzburg Festival; Octavian in Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier at Vienna State Opera, the Salzburg Festival, and the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées; Mère Marie in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites at Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and the Royal Opera, Covent Garden; and the Composer in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos at Vienna State Opera.

“French mezzo-soprano Sophie Koch… brings a plush, strong voice and aching vulnerability to Charlotte.” – The New York Times

The opera is based on a semi-autobiographical book by the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, recounting an ill-fated love. Although Goethe was only 24-years-old when it was published, he instantly became a major literary celebrity. The book was written in the form of letters from Werther, the title character, to Charlotte, the woman he loves but cannot have.

This opera’s famous Christmas Eve scene (beginning of Act 3) is one in which Charlotte wonders if she did the right thing by rejecting Werther’s love while re-reading his letters to her. When the book was published, young men across Europe adopted Werther’s clothing style, including blue tails and a yellow waistcoat.

The opera was first produced by the Met on tour, in Chicago in 1894. Another production premiered at the New Theatre in New York in 1909 and arrived at the Met the following year—as an opener for the ballet Coppélia, featuring the company debut of ballerina Anna Pavlova. Werther was not staged again until 1971, when Alain Lombard conducted a production by Paul-Emile Deiber that starred Enrico Di Giuseppe (replacing an ailing Franco Corelli) and Christa Ludwig. Corelli took the title role in the remaining 16 performances that season.

Other notable performers to appear in that staging include Elena Obraztsova, Régine Crespin, Tatiana Troyanos, Frederica von Stade, Vesselina Kasarova, Plácido Domingo, Alfredo Kraus, Neil Shicoff, and Roberto Alagna. In 1999, Thomas Hampson sang the title part in an alternate version of the score (prepared by Massenet in 1902) that recasts the role for baritone, opposite Susan Graham as Charlotte.

As with Werther, these grand opera productions are filmed at the magnificent Metropolitan Opera House in New York, home to some of the most talented singers, conductors, composers, orchestra musicians, stage directors, designers, visual artists, choreographers and dancers from around the world. Their past productions have received great acclaim and have gained recognition around the world. Now, and as it has done since Live in HD began, Cinema Nouveau continues to provide audiences with the exclusive opportunity to witness these spectacular and award-winning near-live broadcasts in South Africa.

Each of these entertaining operas is a glorious production that will be screened exclusively at Cinema Nouveau and select Ster-Kinekor theatres countrywide from Saturday, 05 April: Gateway Nouveau, Durban; V&A Nouveau in Cape Town; Somerset Mall, Cape Town; Blue Route Mall, Cape Town; Garden Route Mall, George; Rosebank Nouveau in Johannesburg; Bedford Centre, Johannesburg and at Brooklyn Nouveau, Pretoria. Their release onto the big digital cinema screen affords South African lovers of opera the unique opportunity to become an integral part of these ‘near-live’ and breathtaking performances.

The running time of Werther is approximately three hours, with one intermission.

To book tickets and for more information, please visit: www.cinemanouveau.co.za | mobi-site: www.sterkinekor.mobi |Ticketline: 082 16789 (VAS rates apply) | Facebook: CinemaNouveau| Follow us on Twitter: @nouveaubuzz. Download the SK App to your smart phone for updates and to make bookings via your mobile phone.

Video clip:

· http://metpics.metpics.org/Live-in-HD/1314/Werther-Mar-15/29914322_VQp6J7#!i=3080015698&k=hcpQjtf

Images for all The Met: Live in HD productions are available on the following site: www.skpictures.co.za