Pure entertainment with ‘I Puritani’

Experience the sweeping drama and vocal brilliance of Vincenzo Bellini’s final opera “I Puritani,” presented live in high definition at the Newport Performing Arts Center this Saturday, Jan. 10.

The performance will stream directly from the Metropolitan Opera stage in New York to the Alice Silverman Theatre, bringing coastal audiences one of Bellini’s most demanding and beloved works. Renowned for its soaring melodies and virtuosic coloratura, “I Puritani” will return to the Met in its first new production in nearly 50 years.

The new staging marks the directorial debut of Charles Edwards, who sets the opera against the turmoil of the English Civil War with expansive sets and dramatic visual storytelling. Conductor Marco Armiliato will lead a celebrated cast headed by soprano Lisette Oropesa as Elvira and tenor Lawrence Brownlee as Arturo, lovers torn apart by political conflict and madness. They will be joined by baritone Artur Ruciński as Riccardo and bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as Giorgio.

Sung in Italian with English subtitles, the opera will run approximately three hours and 45 minutes with one intermission.

Saturday’s performance begins at 10 am at the Newport Performing Arts Center, located at 777 W Olive Street. Tickets range from $12 to $28. For more information, go to coastarts.org or call 541-265-2782.