Enjoy complete performances of world famous operas from Verdi, Puccini, Mozart and many more Saturdays at 1pm.

For many years, radio broadcasts from "The Metropolitan Opera" have been a Saturday tradition in many American households. Met Opera broadcasts are usually performed live from Lincoln Center in New York City and can be heard from December through May on WNED Classical.    

The WFMT Radio Network Opera series complements the Metropolitan Opera Broadcasts, filling in the schedule to complete the year. From Milan to New York, Barcelona to Chicago, you'll have  a front-row seat to performances from some of the world’s greatest opera companies and performers.

The 2024-2025 The Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcast Series, runs December 7 through June 7, 2025. listeners can hear thrilling performances by today’s most celebrated artists as well as legendary stars from the past, captured in live broadcasts spanning nine decades of Met history. 

Broadcasts can be heard on WNED Classical at 1pm every Saturday except as noted.

Tune in at 94.5 FM in Buffalo or anywhere in the world our website's live player or WNED Classical app.

See what’s coming up below:

Performance from November 7, 2007.

Soprano Angel Blue, who headlines the Met’s new Aida this season and also stars in the company premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar, chose to pay tribute to one of the Met’s most beloved sopranos, Renée Fleming. A fan of Fleming long before ever seeing her live, Blue’s admiration of the soprano deepened after an especially memorable performance of La Traviata in Los Angeles in 2007. “I was floored by the depth of her dramatic interpretation and effortless singing,” Blue says, with Fleming’s impeccable poise and flawless coloratura etched into her memory. “Her vocal technique was a master class.” Experience Fleming’s inspiring portrayal of the self-sacrificing heroine in this 2007 performance of Verdi’s tragic masterpiece, which also stars tenor Matthew Polenzani as Alfredo and baritone Dwayne Croft as Germont, with Marco Armiliato on the podium.

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Verdi’s musical-dramatic ability to portray the individual in a marginalized relationship to society keeps this work a mainstay on the world’s stages. The vocal and emotional scope of the title character is enormous—from her Act I show-stopper aria “Sempre libera degg’io” to the haunting regret of “Addio, del passato” in Act III to the extended Act II confrontation with her lover’s father, Germont. 

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

Conductor: Marco Armiliato

Venue: The Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts NYC 

CAST: 

Violetta: Renée Fleming 

Alfredo: Matthew Polenzani 

Giorgio Germont: Dwayne Croft 

Flora: Leann Sandel-Pantaleo 

Gastone: Tony Stevenson 

Performance from 1960.

With meaty turns in Verdi’s Il Trovatore, Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten, and Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick on his Met schedule this season, and major Wagnerian roles in his future, bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green has chosen to highlight imposing American bass-baritone George London in Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer. A winner of the prestigious George London Award in 2014, Green says there’s much to love about London’s performance of the title role, noting his sonorous voice, the ease of his vocal production, and the expression of every phrase. “He showed up and showed out in every role he conquered, but he brings an unparalleled presence and power to Wagner.” This tour-de-force performance from 1960 also stars soprano Leonie Rysanek as Senta—one of the soprano’s signatures—with Thomas Schippers on the podium. 

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The score of Der Fliegende Holländer is an extraordinary combination of operatic lyricism, dramatic insight, and magnificent effects. At the time it was written, Wagner had not yet developed his theories of music-drama, which would form the basis for his later works. Many of the features of conventional opera (recitatives, arias, ensembles), therefore, can still be found, but the way Wagner integrates them into the fabric of the score clearly foreshadows his later technique of a continuous musical flow. 

Composer: Richard Wagner 

Conductor: Thomas Schippers 

Venue: The Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts NYC 

CAST: 

Der Holländer : George London 

Senta: Leonie Rysanek 

Erik: Karl Liebl 

Daland: Giorgio Tozzi 

Mary: Belén Amparan 

Steersman: William Olvis 

Performance from January 5, 1985.

One of the Met’s most riveting artists in decades, Lise Davidsen knows a thing or two about golden-age soprano singing, and her plans with the company include not only this season’s appearances in Puccini’s Tosca and Beethoven’s Fidelio, but also upcoming new productions of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde and Ring cycle. In choosing to share a Jessye Norman broadcast, Davidsen acknowledges a profound connection with the legendary soprano. “Jessye is one of my most important vocal inspirations,” Davidsen says, reflecting on her own celebrated turn in the title role of Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos in the 2021–22 season, when she was thrilled to don the same crystal crown Norman wore when she sang the role. “I was so happy because for me, no one comes close to Jessye.” In this unforgettable 1985 broadcast, Norman shines as the regal Ariadne, with mezzo-soprano Maria Ewing as the Composer. Andrew Davis conducts, with his wife-to-be, soprano Gianna Rolandi, as Zerbinetta. 

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After the gargantuan symphonic scale of Salome, Elektra, and Der Rosenkavalier, Strauss telescoped his symphonic powers into an ensemble of 37 players for Ariadne auf Naxos. This proved a perfect accompaniment to the conversational tone of the prologue as well as to the lyrical moments of the second half. The latter “opera” portion includes some of the composer’s most atmospheric music, while Ariadne herself delivers one of Strauss’s most magnificent soprano solos. In the spirit of this piece, however, this is followed by buoyant music for the commedia dell’arte troupe, including Zerbinetta, who shines in a dizzying coloratura showpiece. 

Composer: Richard Strauss 

Conductor: Andrew Davis 

Venue: The Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts NYC 

CAST: 

Ariadne: Jessye Norman  

Zerbinetta: Gianna Rolandi 

Composer: Maria Ewing 

Performance from March 21, 1964.

For the final installment in this special series, Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin chose to spotlight the legendary Leonard Bernstein. As an aspiring young conductor with many of Bernstein’s recordings at his disposal, Nézet-Séguin quickly developed an affinity for the renowned maestro. “Bernstein was, hands down, always my greatest conducting model,” he says, drawing great inspiration from the way Bernstein unapologetically expressed himself on the podium. “That lack of inhibition is true authenticity. We work all our lives to be that true to ourselves, but Lenny is the master.” In his Met debut, Bernstein leads this vibrant 1964 performance of Verdi’s Shakespearean comedy, starring baritone Anselmo Colzani in the title role, soprano Gabriella Tucci as Alice Ford, mezzo-soprano Regina Resnik as Mistress Quickly, mezzo-soprano Rosalind Elias as Meg Page, baritone Mario Sereni as Ford, and soprano Judith Raskin and tenor Luigi Alva as Nannetta and Fenton. 

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Falstaff marks a stylistic departure for Verdi and occupies a category of its own, without parallels in the history of the genre. The musical ideas come fast and abundantly, moving from one to the next organically and without discernible breaks. The orchestra carries the story and occasionally makes literal comments on the action. At other times, it represents the overall spirit of the proceedings, such as in the remarkable prelude to Act III, which contains all the sweeping crescendo of a Rossini overture in less than a minute. 

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi 

Conductor: Leonard Bernstein 

Venue: The Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts NYC 

CAST: 

Falstaff: Anselmo Colzani 

Alice Ford: Gabriella Tucci 

Mistress Quickly: Regina Resnik 

Meg Page: Rosalind Elias 

Ford: Mario Sereni 

Nannetta: Judith Raskin 

Fenton: Luigi Alva