Der Fliegende Holländer

In March 2020, the Met made the difficult choice to cancel the remainder of the 2019–20 season in an effort to keep audiences, performers, and staff members safe from the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision also meant ending the Live in HD season early, only days before a scheduled transmission of François Girard’s stirring new production of Der Fliegende Holländer. Fortunately, as part of regular preparations for an HD broadcast, a prior performance of the opera was recorded as a camera rehearsal. In this high-definition “scratch taping,” celebrated conductor Valery Gergiev is on the podium for Wagner’s breakout operatic masterpiece, an eerie ghost story about the otherworldly Flying Dutchman. Having already sung a number of the composer’s works at the Met, bass-baritone Evgeny Nikitin delivers a commanding performance in the title role, opposite soprano Anja Kampe in her debut season as Senta. The thrilling cast also stars tenor Sergey Skorokhodov as Erik, bass Franz-Josef Selig as Daland, mezzo-soprano Mihoko Fujimura as Mary, and tenor David Portillo as the Steersman.