Opera-tunity Knocks: Met's Free Summer HD Festival Returns To UWS

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY – The Metropolitan Opera’s Summer HD Festival is back, bringing free outdoor screenings of some of the organization's most celebrated performances to over 2,500 nightly attendees at Lincoln Center.

Held in the Lincoln Center Plaza from Friday, Aug. 23, to Monday, Sept. 2, this year’s festival features 11 screenings: 10 operas and one film.

Screenings include favorites like Bizet’s "Carmen," Puccini's "Madama Butterfly," and Mozart's "Don Giovanni," as well as newer productions – by opera standards – like Jake Heggie's "Dead Man Walking," Daniel Catán's "Florencia en el Amazonas," and Anthony Davis's "X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X."

To kick off the festival, the Met and Film at Lincoln Center will screen "The Red Violin," a 1998 film about a mysterious Stradivarius starring Samuel L. Jackson.

Screenings begin at 7:30 or 8 p.m.

Arrive early, as seats are available on a first come, first served basis. There are no rain dates.