Great Performances

[ Singing in Italian ] Major funding for Great Performances at the Metropolitan Opera is provided by and by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.

Thank you.

-Hello.

I'm soprano Ailyn Prez and I'm thrilled to be your host for today's performance of "I Puritani," the 19th-century opera composed by Bellini as a showcase for the greatest bel canto singers of his day.

Fortunately, for our cinema audiences we're currently experiencing a new golden age of bel canto singing and it will be on full display in today's transmission.

The story of the Puritans and Royalists vying for power in 17th-century England, complete with convoluted betrayals both real and imagined, provides an ideal launching pad for the coloratura vocal fireworks that Bellini relished.

Soprano Lisette Oropesa is our heroine Elvira, a Puritan thwarted in her devotion for the Royalist Arturo, played by tenor Lawrence Brownlee.

Their star-crossed love results in one of the greatest mad scenes in all of opera, which you'll be hearing soon.

Two other stellar bel canto artists are singing today as well.

Bass-baritone Christian Van Horn is Elvira's sympathetic uncle Giorgio, and baritone Ricardo Jos Rivera is stepping in on very short notice as the Puritan commander Riccardo, replacing Artur Rucinski, who is ill.

That's the drama of live opera.

In the striking new production, director Charles Edwards guides the action by imagining Elvira as a painter whose sensibility is constrained by the Puritan society that surrounds her.

Maestro Marco Armiliato is ready to go in the pit and lead Bellini's gorgeous score which was, in fact, his last.

Here is "I Puritani."

[ Applause ] [ Applause continues ] [ Singing in Italian ] [ Sharp note plays ] [ Singing in Italian ] [ Bell tolling ] -[ Singing in Italian ] [ Bell tolling ] [ Applause ] -[ Singing in Italian ] [ Cheers and applause ] [ Applause continues ] [ Applause ] [ Applause ] [ Applause continues ] [ All singing in Italian ] [ Applause ] -[ Laughing ] [ All singing in Italian ] [ Cheers and applause ] [ Applause continues ] [ Applause continues ] [ Applause ] -At the end of the previous act, Elvira believes she has been betrayed by her beloved Arturo and she is mentally overcome.

When the next act begins, her breakdown reaches even greater depths of despair.

Here are the riveting final acts of "I Puritani."

[ Applause ] [ Cheers and applause ] [ Singing in Italian ] -[ Singing in Italian ] [ Cheers and applause ] [ Applause continues ] [ Loud banging on door ] -[ Singing in Italian ] -[ Singing in Italian ] -[ Singing in Italian ] [ All singing in Italian ] -[ Singing continues ] [ Applause ] [ Applause continues ] [ Cheers and applause ] [ Applause continues ] [ Applause ] [ Applause ] [ Drums beating ] [ Applause ] [ Applause continues ] [ Cheers and applause ] [ Applause continues ] [ Applause continues ] [ Applause continues ] [ Drums beating ] -[ Groans ] [ Singing in Italian ] [ Cheers and applause ] [ Applause continues ] [ Fanfare plays ] [ Cheers and applause ] [ Cheers and applause continue ] [ Applause continues ] [ Applause continues ] [ Cheers and applause ] [ Cheers and applause ] [ Cheers and applause ] [ Cheers and applause ] [ Applause continues ] [ Cheers and applause ] [ Applause continues ] [ Cheers and applause ] [ Applause continues ] [ Applause continues ] [ Cheers and applause ] [ Applause continues ] [ Applause continues ] [ Cheers and applause ] [ Applause continues ] [ Applause continues ] [ Cheers and applause ] [ Applause continues ]