Live at the Met, the Metropolitan Opera’s award-winning series of live, high definition (HD) opera transmissions to theaters around the world, continues its 2025-26 season at the 1891 Fredonia Opera House Performing Arts Center at 1 p.m. Saturday, with a production of Vincenzo Bellini’s I Puritani. Soprano Lisette Oropesa and tenor Lawrence Brownlee are Elvira and Arturo, brought together by love and torn apart by the political rifts of the English Civil War

Live at the Met, the Metropolitan Opera’s award-winning series of live, high definition (HD) opera transmissions to theaters around the world, continues its 2025-26 season at the 1891 Fredonia Opera House Performing Arts Center this Saturday at 1 p.m., with a production of Vincenzo Bellini’s I Puritani.

For gorgeous melody, spellbinding coloratura, and virtuoso vocal fireworks, I Puritani has few equals.

For the first new Met production of Vincenzo Bellini’s final masterpiece in nearly 50 years – a striking staging by Charles Edwards, who makes his company directorial debut after many successes as a set designer – the Met has assembled a world-beating quartet of stars, conducted by Marco Armiliato, for the demanding principal roles.

Soprano Lisette Oropesa and tenor Lawrence Brownlee are Elvira and Arturo, brought together by love and torn apart by the political rifts of the English Civil War, with baritone Artur Ruciński as Riccardo, betrothed to Elvira against her will, and bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as Elvira’s sympathetic uncle, Giorgio.

Live at the Met is the Metropolitan Opera’s Peabody and Emmy Award-winning series of opera performances transmitted live from the stage of the Met in New York into movie theaters and event spaces worldwide. When the series launched in 2006, the Met was the first arts company to experiment with alternative cinema content. Since then, the program has expanded, and today reaches more than 2,000 venues in 73 countries across six continents.

Individual tickets to each of the operas in the Live at the Met season are $20, ($18 Opera House members, $10 students). Tickets may be purchased in person at the Opera House Box Office or by phone at 716-679-1891, Tuesday-Friday, 12-4:30 p.m. Tickets may be purchased online anytime at www.fredopera.org.

Part of Arts in the Afternoon, which is sponsored by Dr. James M. & Marcia Merrins, Live at the Met is underwritten with support from Daniel S. Kaufman and Timothy W. Beaver.

The 1891 Fredonia Opera House Performing Arts Center is a member-supported not-for-profit performing arts center with a mission to “present the performing arts for the benefit of our community and region … providing access to artistic diversity … and high quality programming at an affordable price.” It is located in Village Hall in downtown Fredonia. For a complete schedule of events, visit www.fredopera.org.