The Met’s Free Summer HD Festival Returns to Lincoln Center September 2-7

The Metropolitan Opera’s Summer HD Festival is back for its 17th year, bringing six straight nights of free opera screenings to Josie Robertson Plaza from September 2 through 7. About 2,500 seats go up in front of the building each night, and there’s nothing to buy or reserve in advance.

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Seating is general admission, first come, first served. According to the Metropolitan Opera, every presentation includes full open captions.

The screenings come from the company’s Live in HD cinema series, and while the festival runs six nights, it covers five performances. Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde is split across the first two evenings. Here’s the schedule:

• Wednesday, September 2, 8 p.m. Tristan und Isolde, Act I, from Yuval Sharon’s new production. About 1 hour, 25 minutes.
• Thursday, September 3, 8 p.m. Tristan und Isolde, Acts II and III. About 2 hours, 35 minutes.
• Friday, September 4, 7:30 p.m. Bellini’s I Puritani, the Met’s first new staging of the bel canto work in nearly 50 years. About 3 hours.
• Saturday, September 5, 8 p.m. Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, his adaptation of Pushkin. About 2 hours, 40 minutes.
• Sunday, September 6, 8 p.m. Gabriela Lena Frank’s El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego, a magical-realist portrait of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera reuniting on the Day of the Dead. About 2 hours.
• Monday, September 7, 8 p.m. Puccini’s La Bohème in Franco Zeffirelli’s production. About 2 hours, 5 minutes.

Anyone hoping for a good seat should plan around the Met’s entry protocols. The plaza is cleared and secured roughly two hours before each screening, and guests are let back in through designated access points one hour before showtime. That one-hour mark is the practical time to line up.

Weather is the only real variable. Screenings go on in rain, but the Met cancels for thunder, lightning or high wind, and canceled nights won’t be rescheduled. Any announcements will go up on the Met’s website and social channels. The festival is supported by the Robert W. Wilson Charitable Trust.

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