How to enjoy a feast of great opera from New York for free

Newcomers and aficionados alike will find much to enjoy as New York’s Met Opera continues to broadcast its classic productions online.

All nightly Met Opera Streams begin at 12.30am UK time and remain available via metopera.org for 23 hours. The performances are also accessible on all Met Opera on Demand apps.Here are ten of the best productions heading to screens in the coming days.

1 WAGNER’S SIEGFRIED

October 9, starring Hildegard Behrens, Siegfried Jerusalem, and James Morris, conducted by James Levine, from April 26, 1990

In his cave in the forest, the dwarf Mime forges a sword for his foster son Siegfried. He hates Siegfried but hopes that the boy will kill the dragon Fafner, who guards the Nibelungs’ treasure, so that Mime can take the all-powerful ring from it. So begins the third of the four music dramas that constitute Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung). It premiered at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 16 August 1876, as part of the first complete performance of The Ring cycle.

Anna Netrebko in Lucia di Lammermoor (photo: Ken Howard/Met Opera)

2 WAGNER’S GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG

October 10, starring Hildegard Behrens, Christa Ludwig, Siegfried Jerusalem, and Matti Salminen, conducted by James Levine, from May 5, 1990

At night on the Valkyries’ rock, the three Norns, daughters of Erda, weave the rope of destiny. They tell how Wotan ordered the world ash tree, from which his spear was once cut, to be felled and its wood piled around Valhalla. The burning of the pyre will mark the end of the old order. Suddenly the rope breaks. Their wisdom ended, the Norns descend into the earth. Dawn breaks and Siegfried and Brünnhilde emerge. Having cast protective spells on him, she sends him into the world to do heroic deeds. As a pledge of his love, Siegfried gives her the ring he took from the dragon Fafner, and she offers her horse, Grane, in return. Siegfried sets off on his travels. Götterdämmerung is the last in Richard Wagner’s cycle .The title is a translation into German of the Old Norse phrase Ragnarök, which in Norse mythology refers to a prophesied war among various beings and gods that ultimately results in the burning, immersion in water, and renewal of the world.

3 WAGNER’S PARSIFAL

October 11, Starring Katarina Dalayman, Jonas Kaufmann, Peter Mattei, Evgeny Nikitin, and René Pape, conducted by Daniele Gatti, from March 2, 2013

Near the sanctuary of the Holy Grail, the old knight Gurnemanz and two sentries wake and perform their morning prayers, while other knights prepare a bath for their ailing ruler Amfortas, who suffers from an incurable wound. Suddenly, Kundry — a mysterious, ageless woman who serves as the Grail’s messenger — appears. The scene is set for a work Wagner conceived in April 1857, but did not finish it until 25 years later. It was his last completed opera.

4 DONIZETTI’S LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR

October 12, starring Anna Netrebko, Piotr Beczała, Mariusz Kwiecień, and Ildar Abdrazakov, conducted by Marco Armiliato, from February 7, 2009

The three-act tragic opera tragic opera has a libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott’s 1819 historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor. The story concerns the emotionally fragile Lucy Ashton (Lucia) who is caught in a feud between her own family and that of the Ravenswoods. The setting is the Lammermuir Hills of Sc