Movies by Håkan Hagegård

Die Fledermaus

Die Fledermaus

Live performance from the Metropolitan Opera, 31 December 1986.

The Ghosts of Versailles

The Ghosts of Versailles

What happened to Figaro and his friends after the events told in Rossini’s and Mozart’s operas? One possible sequel is told in John Corigliano’s “grand opera buffa” The Ghosts of Versailles—an uproariously funny and deeply moving work inspired by Beaumarchais’s third Figaro play, La Mère Coupable, and commissioned by the Met to celebrate its 100th anniversary. This telecast captures its world premiere run, conducted by James Levine. Håkan Hagegård is Beaumarchais, Figaro’s creator, who is deeply in love with Marie Antoinette (Teresa Stratas...

Silence! Cameras! The Magic Flute!

Silence! Cameras! The Magic Flute!

A documentary behind the scenes of Ingmar Bergman's The Magic Flute.

Don Pasquale

Don Pasquale

This John Dexter production, designed by Desmond Heeley, was a parting gift to the great American soprano Beverly Sills, who bid farewell to the Met as Norina, the smart young widow at the center of Donizetti’s comedy. The sensational Alfredo Kraus sings her beloved Ernesto. Håkan Hagegård, in his Met debut role and season, is Dr. Malatesta, the man who helps the young couple trick the crusty old bachelor of the title (Gabriel Bacquier at his comical best) into a fake marriage. This being a Donizetti comedy, it all turns out perfectly well a...

Strauss II: Die Fledermaus

Strauss II: Die Fledermaus

Glyndebourne's pulsating new production of the Waltz King's much-loved comic operetta. Its story centers on a magnificent masked ball, given by a Russian prince, that brings together all the main characters in various disguises. The three-act journey from boudoir to ballroom to jail provides ample opportunities for farce and humor, but also for genuine human emotion and a surprisingly realistic view of urban life.

Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress

Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress

This lavish, cinematic realisation of Stravinsky's neo-classic masterpiece, performed in English, is filmed both in studio and on location. The imaginative richness in the music is complemented by costumes and sets which are, by turn, exquisitely garish and darkly grotesque to intoxicating effect.