Metropolitan Opera to Honor Juneteenth with Leontyne Price Performance of ‘La Forza del Destino’

By David Salazar
(Credit: Met Opera)

The Metropolitan Opera has announced that it will celebrate Juneteenth with a broadcast of “La Forza del Destino” starring Leontyne Price.

The Verdi opera, featuring the famed soprano, was already scheduled to stream on June 18 as part of the company’s nightly streaming service. But now audiences will be able to check it out through June 19th.

“In honor of Juneteenth, the Met will extend this week’s stream of Verdi’s ‘La Forza del Destino,’ starring the great African American soprano Leontyne Price, to 48 hours, so that it will be available on Friday, June 19,” the company posted on its Instagram account.

Juneteenth is a holiday celebrated on June 19 to commemorate when, on that date in 1865, Union General Granger read federal orders that all enslaved people in Texas had been freed. While the Emancipation Proclamation had been formally issued in 1863 and the defeat of the Confederate States of America took place in April of 1865, the news took time to reach Texas, the most remote of slave states.

The performance of “La Forza del Destino” also features Giuseppe Giacomini, Leo Nucci, and Bonaldo Giaiotti and dates from March 24, 1984.

As a result, the remaining operas scheduled for that week will be pushed back a day with “Akhnaten” scheduled to stream on June 20 and “Satyagraha” now set for June 21.

“La Traviata,” originally set for June 21, will be pushed back a day.

Categories

News