MET OPERA LIVE IN HD – CHAMPION

29 APRIL 2023: 29 April 2023, 19:00 (CET): The Met premiere of Terence Blanchard’s first opera, CHAMPION, about the life of boxer Emile Griffith will be transmitted live to cinemas on 29 April.

When Terence Blanchard’s FIRE SHUT UP IN MY BONES opened the Met’s 2021/22 season to universal acclaim, it marked a historic moment in the annals of the company. Now, the six-time Grammy Award-winning composer’s operatic retelling of the dramatic story of boxer Emile Griffith arrives in New York. Bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green stars as the closeted young hatmaker-turned-prizefighter, who rises from obscurity to become world champion and, in one of the great tragedies in sports history, kills his homophobic archrival in the ring. Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads a stellar cast that also features bass-baritone Eric Owens as Griffith’s older self, haunted by the ghosts of his past. Soprano Latonia Moore is Emelda Griffith, the boxer’s estranged mother, alongside mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe as bar owner Kathy Hagen. Director James Robinson – whose productions of FIRE SHUT UP IN MY BONES and PORGY AND BESS brought down the house – oversees the staging, and Camille A. Brown, whose choreography electrified audiences in FIRE and PORGY, also returns. The live cinema transmission is part of the Met’s award-winning Live in HD series, presented in Germany and Austria by Clasart Classic.

For more information, please visit www.metimkino.de.

Composer Terence Blanchard
Orchestra / Band The Metropolitan Opera
Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Stage Director James Robinson
Choreography by Camille A. Brown
Soloist Latonia Moore
Soloist Stephanie Blythe
Soloist Ryan Speedo Green
Soloist Eric Owens