Gil Wechsler Trailers

La Traviata - The Met Trailer (1981)

28 March 1981

James Levine leads a remarkable cast in one of Verdi’s most enduringly popular operas and brings fresh insights to this beloved score.

Giuseppe Verdi: Simon Boccanegra Trailer (1995)

26 January 1995

This evocative production by Giancarlo Del Monaco sumptuously captures the look and feel of 14th century Genoa and is a perfect compliment to Verdi’s setting of this story of searing conflict between public duty and private grief.

The Metropolitan Opera - Wagner: Tannhäuser Trailer (1982)

20 December 1982

As renowned for its harmonious overture as for its romantic storybook characters, this three-act masterwork features some of the composer’s most groundbreaking and unforgettable music, as well as a theme the young Wagner would revisit again and again later in his career—the redemptive and transcendent power of a woman’s love.

Lucia di Lammermoor Trailer (1983)

28 September 1983

This telecast offers a rare opportunity to see the legendary Joan Sutherland in the role that first catapulted her to international stardom.

L'Elisir d'Amore Trailer (1991)

11 November 1991

John Copley’s colorful production, with designs by Beni Montresor, was created around the beloved superstar Luciano Pavarotti.

Manon Lescaut – The Met Trailer (2008)

16 February 2008

One of today’s most compelling singing actresses, Karita Mattila takes on the irresistible role of Manon Lescaut, the headstrong young woman torn between a life of luxury and the call of her true love: the Chevalier des Grieux, played by Marcello Giordani.

The Metropolitan Opera: Don Giovanni Trailer (1978)

16 March 1978

Imbuing the familiar Don Juan myth with a captivating combination of comedy, seductiveness, danger, and damnation, Mozart created an enduring masterpiece that has been a cornerstone of the repertory since its 1787 premiere.

The Metropolitan Opera: La Bohème Trailer (2018)

24 February 2018

Puccini’s timeless love story, which includes some of its composer’s most beloved music, has moved generations of opera lovers since its 1896 world premiere.

Puccini: Turandot Trailer (2009)

07 November 2009

Franco Zeffirelli's magnificient staging of Puccini's final opera - a fairy tale set in a mythical China - is one of the most popular in the Met repertory.

Don Pasquale Trailer (1979)

17 January 1979

This John Dexter production, designed by Desmond Heeley, was a parting gift to the great American soprano Beverly Sills, who bid farewell to the Met as Norina, the smart young widow at the center of Donizetti’s comedy.

Il Trovatore Trailer (1988)

15 October 1988

Luciano Pavarotti brings his spectacular voice and artistry to one of the most famous of all tenor roles—Manrico, the ardent troubadour, trapped in an impossible situation by forces beyond his control.

Lohengrin Trailer (1986)

10 January 1986

Wagner’s Romantic opera demands singing actors who can truly inhabit their parts, and that’s just what we have here.

Die Walküre Trailer (1990)

23 February 1990

The gorgeous and evocative Otto Schenk/Günther Schneider-Siemssen production continues with this second opera in Wagner’s Ring cycle.

Rigoletto Trailer (1977)

07 November 1977

A Victor Hugo play, haunting and scandalous, provided the inspiration for Verdi’s mid-career masterpiece.

Falstaff Trailer (1993)

01 January 1993

It is to composer and librettist Arrigo Boito and his constant pestering of the octogenarian Verdi that there remained within him one last great comedy fighting to get out that we owe this absolute miracle of an opera.

The Metropolitan Opera: Turandot Trailer (2019)

12 October 2019

Christine Goerke has wowed audiences as Turandot, the icy princess at the heart of Puccini’s grand final masterpiece.

Verdi: Ernani Trailer (2012)

25 February 2012

Rising Met star Angela Meade is Elvira, the young woman caught between three men: her lover, the nobleman-turned-outlaw Ernani (Marcello Giordani); her guardian, the rich, elderly de Silva, who wants her for himself (Ferruccio Furlanetto); and Don Carlo, the King of Spain, who also desires Elvira (Dmitri Hvorostovsky).

The Metropolitan Opera: La Fanciulla del West Trailer (2018)

27 October 2018

Soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek sings Puccini’s gun-slinging heroine in this romantic epic of the Wild West, with the heralded return of tenor Jonas Kaufmann in the role of the outlaw she loves.

Ernani Trailer (1983)

17 December 1983

Verdi's early masterpiece is based on a Victor Hugo play with a complicated plot concerning a young woman and the three men vying for her affections—her elderly uncle, a king destined to become Holy Roman Emperor, and a bandit who is actually an overthrown nobleman.

Verdi: Rigoletto Trailer (1981)

15 December 1981

The opera's dramatic structure frames and enhances the characters. Scenes of magnificence regularly alternate with scenes of darkness and squalor.

Puccini: La bohème Trailer (1982)

01 January 1982

"La Bohème" is one of Giacomo Puccini's most popular and timeless works and the second-most performed opera at New York's Metropolitan Opera.

La Forza del Destino Trailer (1984)

23 March 1984

Leonora plans to elope with Don Alvaro, but he accidentally shoots and kills her father, who curses them as he dies.

The Metropolitan Opera: Francesca da Rimini Trailer (2013)

16 March 2013

Eva-Maria Westbroek stars in the title role of Zandonai’s sensuous drama, opposite Marcello Giordani as Paolo.

Puccini: La Fanciulla del West Trailer (2011)

08 January 2011

Tosca Trailer (1978)

27 November 1978

A stellar cast brings Puccini’s spellbinding opera to life, seizing every opportunity to thrill the audience.

Puccini: Manon Lescaut Trailer (1980)

29 March 1980

All the throbbing eroticism—and ultimate heartbreak—of Puccini’s youthful score is unleashed by James Levine and his top-flight cast.

The Ghosts of Versailles Trailer (1992)

10 January 1992

What happened to Figaro and his friends after the events told in Rossini’s and Mozart’s operas? One possible sequel is told in John Corigliano’s “grand opera buffa” The Ghosts of Versailles—an uproariously funny and deeply moving work inspired by Beaumarchais’s third Figaro play, La Mère Coupable, and commissioned by the Met to celebrate its 100th anniversary.

Ariadne auf Naxos Trailer (1988)

01 January 1988

Jessye Norman is a regal Ariadne, the mythological Greek heroine in this opera-within-an-opera, opposite the passionate Bacchus of the great James King.

Richard Wagner: Parsifal Trailer (1993)

07 April 1993

The Met production easily has the most beautiful staging, designed by Otto Schenck, who also produced the fabulous set for the Met's previous Ring cycle.

Carmen Trailer (1988)

12 December 1988

This all-star cast is framed by Peter Hall’s gritty, realistic production and conducted by James Levine, who brings out all the surging emotion and gripping drama in Bizet’s score.