The Metropolitan Opera series in high definition (HD) culminates on March 3, 6:30PM at Greenbelt 3 Cinema 1 in Makati with George Frideric Handel, Antonio Vivaldi and Jean-Phillippe Rameau’s The Enchanted Island. The event is made possible through the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the Metropolitan Opera of New York, and the Filipinas Opera Society Foundation Inc., in cooperation with the Ayala Malls Cinemas.
Inspired by the 18th-century tradition of the pastiche, The Enchanted Island is an extraordinary new work featuring music by some of the Baroque era’s greatest composers and a libretto devised and written by Jeremy Sams. It had its world premiere at the Met in the 2011-2012 season. A popular genre in its day, pastiche (or pasticcio) combines existing music by one or several composers with a new text and storyline. Handel, Vivaldi and Rameau, whose works are prominently featured in The Enchanted Island, all devised pastiches from their own music.
In The Enchanted Island, the lovers from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream are shipwrecked on his other-wordly island of The Tempest. Eminent conductor William Christie leads an all-star cast with David Daniels (Prospero) and Joyce DiDonato (Sycorax) as the formidable foes, Plácido Domingo as Neptune, Danielle de Niese as Ariel, and Luca Pisaroni as Caliban. Lisette Oropesa and Anthony Roth Costanzo play Miranda and Ferdinand. The dazzling production is directed and designed by Phleim McDermott and Julian Courch.
Tickets are at P400 with 20% discount for senior citizens. For inquiries, call Greenbelt 3 Cinema at (+632) 757-3862 or (632) 752-7883 (Customer Service Hotline).