The Met: Live in HD 2026–27 Australian cinema dates revealed – The Metropolitan Opera will mark 20 years of cinema broadcasts with an anniversary film from 15 October 2026, followed by eight productions screening in Australian cinemas between 31 October 2026 and 31 July 2027.
The Australian programme gives local audiences a clear season to plan around: Mozart opens the line-up, new stagings of Verdi and Puccini feature during the year, and Wagner’s lengthy Parsifal closes it. Sharmill Films is distributing the cinema screenings in Australia, where release dates differ from the Met’s New York transmission dates.
The Met says its Live in HD series has sold more than 33 million tickets since launching in 2006. Its 20th-anniversary presentation, Twenty Years of the Met in Cinemas: An Anniversary Celebration, is hosted by soprano Renée Fleming and draws highlights from more than 185 broadcasts. It begins screening locally on Thursday, 15 October, ahead of the opera season proper.
The Met: Live in HD Australian dates
The eight productions and their announced Australian cinema release dates are:
- Così fan tutte — 31 October 2026.
- Macbeth — 14 November 2026.
- Samson et Dalila — 6 February 2027.
- La fanciulla del West — 13 March 2027.
- Silent Night — 24 April 2027.
- Manon — 29 May 2027.
- Otello — 26 June 2027.
- Parsifal — 31 July 2027.
Sharmill Films’ Australian listings confirm 31 July for Parsifal. Local cinema sessions and ticket availability will depend on the venue.
Opening with Mozart and Verdi
Mozart’s Così fan tutte launches the eight-title season on 31 October. Phelim McDermott’s production relocates the romantic comedy to a Coney Island-inspired amusement park of the 1950s, complete with performers and sideshow atmosphere. Two sailors swap identities to test the faithfulness of their fiancées, setting the comic plot in motion.
Federica Lombardi and Samantha Hankey play the sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella, with Duke Kim and Andrey Zhilikhovsky as their lovers. Ana María Martínez and Gerald Finley complete the principal cast. Nimrod David Pfeffer conducts the production, which runs for about four hours with one interval.
Verdi’s Macbeth follows on 14 November. Quinn Kelsey and Lise Davidsen lead the Shakespeare adaptation as the ambitious couple at its centre. Freddie De Tommaso and Ryan Speedo Green also feature. Louisa Proske directs the new staging and Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts; the estimated running time is three hours and 30 minutes, including one interval.
The 2027 cinema season
The line-up resumes on 6 February with Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila. Aigul Akhmetshina and Clay Hilley sing the title roles, joined by Quinn Kelsey, Alfred Walker and Morris Robinson. Darko Tresnjak directs, with Giacomo Sagripanti conducting the large-scale opera. Allow around three hours and 55 minutes, including two intervals.
Puccini’s La fanciulla del West arrives on 13 March. Set amid the California Gold Rush, its story follows tavern owner Minnie and her relationship with outlaw Dick Johnson. Vida Miknevičiūtė makes her Met debut as Minnie opposite SeokJong Baek, with Christopher Maltman also in the cast. Richard Jones directs the Met’s first new staging of the work in more than 30 years, while Keri-Lynn Wilson conducts. Its estimated runtime is three hours and 15 minutes with one interval.
Kevin Puts’s Silent Night screens from 24 April. With a libretto by Mark Campbell, the opera takes inspiration from the 1914 Christmas truce, when soldiers crossed First World War trenches to meet their enemies. James Robinson directs and Dalia Stasevska conducts. The large ensemble includes Elza van den Heever, Ben Bliss, Rolando Villazón, Ben Reisinger, Mattia Olivieri, Justin Austin, Ryan McKinny and Kyle Ketelsen. The performance runs for roughly three hours with one interval.
Massenet’s Manon opens locally on 29 May, with Nadine Sierra in the title role and Matthew Polenzani among the cast. Carlo Bosi, Andrzej Filończyk, Rod Gilfry and Jean Teitgen also appear. Laurent Pelly’s staging follows Manon’s journey from Parisian glamour towards tragedy; Yves Abel conducts. At around four hours and 25 minutes with two intervals, it is one of the longer screenings of the season.
Verdi’s Otello comes to Australian cinemas on 26 June. Brian Jagde takes the demanding title role and Ailyn Pérez sings Desdemona. Deborah Nansteel, Piotr Buszewski, Artur Ruciński and Vitalij Kowaljow complete the listed cast. Bartlett Sher directs and Michele Mariotti conducts the Shakespearean tragedy, with a runtime of about three hours and 20 minutes including one interval.
The season ends on 31 July with Wagner’s Parsifal, the longest cinema event in the programme at an estimated six hours and five minutes with two intervals. Piotr Beczała stars in François Girard’s production, alongside Elīna Garanča, Peter Mattei, Ryan Speedo Green, Jongmin Park and Alfred Walker. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Wagner’s final opera, a work centred on a quest for the Holy Grail and themes of healing and redemption.
Watch the season previews
The anniversary documentary offers a look back over two decades of Met cinema performances, while the Così fan tutte trailer previews the first production in the new Australian season.
For more on-screen arts coverage, explore TV Central’s cinema stories, and check Sharmill Films’ public Australian Met Opera listings for participating cinemas and sessions.