Opera Matinee

WETA Classical is Washington's home for opera year round. From December through early June, experience the power and passion of the Metropolitan Opera's Saturday Matinee Broadcasts. The rest of the year features performances from leading opera houses around the world.

Next Episode

Nabucco

January 6, 2024 1:00 pm

Giuseppe Verdi

Nabucco, Verdi's successful third opera, captures the dramatic fall of ancient Jerusalem at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar in patriotic fervor that includes the famous Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves (“Va, pensiero”), in which the Israelites express longing for their homeland. This live Metropolitan Opera broadcast features George Gagnidze in the title role.

  • La Bohème

    La Bohème

    January 13, 2024 12:30 pm

    Giacomo Puccini

    La Bohème, Puccin's passionate, timeless, and heartbreaking tale of love among young artists in Paris in the 19th century, owes its popularly to gorgeous arias, tender ensembles and luscious orchestration. This live broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera is conducted by Marco Armiliato.
  • Dead Man Walking

    Dead Man Walking

    January 20, 2024 1:00 pm

    Jake Heggie

    Dead Man Walking by Jake Heggie is based on activist Sister Helen Prejean’s bestselling eponymous memoir of justice and forgiveness takes us into the intimate and often unseen spaces where the innerworkings of the criminal justice system play out. A recording of the Metropolitan Opera's premiere in October 2023 features Joyce DiDonato as Sister Helen Prejean.
  • Carmen

    Carmen

    January 27, 2024 1:00 pm

    Georges Bizet

    Carmen, Bizet’s searing drama about a free-spirited Gypsy and the soldier who enters into a fateful romance with her, is an audience favorite, full of memorable melodies. This live broadcast by The Metropolitan Opera features Aigul Akhmetshina in the title role and renowned tenor Piotr Beczała as Don José.
  • X: The LIfe and Times of Malcolm X

    X: The Life and Times of Malcolm Mx

    February 3, 2024 1:00 pm

    Anthony Davis

    Anthony Davis’s groundbreaking and influential opera, X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, premiered in 1986, is a retelling of the civil rights leader's life, starring baritone Will Liverman in the title role in this Metropolitan Opera performance from last November.
  • Un Ballo in Maschera

    Un Ballo in Maschera

    February 17, 2024 1:00 pm

    Giuseppe Verdi

    Verdi's historically based drama of a Swedish king whose passion for another's wife leads to tragedy and death was an immediate success at its premiere in 1859. This recorded performance from the Metropolitan Opera's Fall 2023 season stars Charles Castronovo and Angela Meade.
  • Mozart and Beethoven in Concert at the Met

    Mozart and Beethoven in Concert at the Met

    February 24, 2024 1:00 pm

    Mozart and Beethoven

    The Metroplitan Opera presents Mozart's stirring Requiem from February 2023, and the finale of Beethoven's monumental Symphony #9 from March 2022, featuring an all-star roster of singers, led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
  • Rigoletto

    Listeners' Choice: Great Met Broadcasts

    March 2, 2024 1:00 pm

    The Metropolitan Opera presents its popular Listener's Choice: Great Met broadcasts -- an opera chosen by listeners from the vast archives of the Met. Tune in to find out which opera was chosen!
  • La forza del destino

    La Forza del Destino

    March 9, 2024 12:00 pm

    Giuseppe Verdi

    The forces of destiny advance Verdi's epic account of ill-fate love, revenge and family conflict set against war and refuge in spirituality. This new production from the Metropolitan Opera is led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

  • The Met

    Turandot

    March 16, 2024 12:00 pm

    Giacomo Puccini

    Puccini's thrilling and gorgeous fairy tale, Turandot, has captivated audiences for generations with sublime music and a compelling tale of a cold princess who subjects her suitors to a deadly game of riddles. This live Metropolitan Opera performance stars Elena Pankratova in the title role.
  • Roméo et Juliette

    Roméo et Juliette

    March 23, 2024 1:00 pm

    Charles Gounod

    Ill-fated lovers are joined in Gounod's sumptuous adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy, in the tradition of French Romanticism with subtlety, sensuality, and graceful vocal delivery. Nadine Sierra and Benjamin Bernheim sing the title roles in this live Metropolitan Opera production.
  • Requiem

    Requiem

    March 30, 2024 1:00 pm

    Giuseppe Verdi

    Verdi's moving Requiem, a monumental masterpiece, is one of the repertoire's outstanding showcases of vocal, choral and orchestral writing. In this performance from September 2023, the Metropolitan Opera chorus, orchestra and master singers combine forces, under the direction of Yannick Nézet-Séguin.